The Shattered Roads
by Seonthae
Summary: They've finally moved back and are trying to rebuild everything that she had left shattered, but after making new friends, and discovering lost truths, they might find that the pieces may not fit together so easily...AgitoxOC & AkitoxOC
1. Prelude

**_DISCLAIMER: Air Gear is by Oh Great! (Ito Ogre). I only own my characters Phoenix (Ryuu) and Sky (Rose). NOTHING ELSE. ALL CREDIT FOR THE ORIGINAL STORY GOES TO OH GREAT!_**

**PRELUDE**

It was a late Sunday night, and he'd been waiting for what felt like countless hours.

'Maybe I got here too early…' he thought to himself as he waiting awkwardly outside the flight terminal.

He looked down to check his watch '8:15 pm. I've only been here for half an hour…but it feels like so much longer…' he thought to himself.

Her plane was scheduled to arrive at 8:20 pm, but he'd gotten there early 'just in case'…or at least that's what he'd told himself. He sighed and closed his eyes, then took a deep breath in to calm himself.

"Pull it together Spitfire, you're the Flame King, you've had to take on much worse then this." he said quietly trying to reassure himself, so then why did something feel so…wrong about her coming back?

He closed his eyes again and tried to clear his mind, when he heard the lady announce over the intercom that her flight had arrived.

* * *

She walked slowly down what seemed like a never ending hallway to thedoors that would lead to her new life. In all honesty, she was scared shitless by the thought of living in Tokyo, but the idea of her getting to live with Spitfire eased_ some_ of her tension at least. Her feet seemed to weigh a ton; it was as if she was dragging all of her sins down that never ending hall way with her. What if…what if they still remembered? What if they tried to do _it_ again? What if she had to go back? What if they'd somehow heard about what happened? Would her new life all come crashing down? All these thoughts swirled around inside her head. She'd reached the end of the hallway now; she was the only one still there. She just stared at the door blankly as her thoughts became darker and darker.

'Think positively Ryuu! We're going to get to see Spitfire again! This is a good thing! Just forget about everything else and enjoy what's waiting for us on the other side of those doors.' said her second person.

'A good thing… yea… yea your right this _is_ a good thing. I have missed Spitfire a lot, and it's gonna be so much fun living with him now…it'll all turn out just fine' she replied feeling a bit better.

"Well, here goes nothing!" she said as she pushed open the doors and stepped into her new life.

* * *

He checked his watch for the millionth time since they'd announced her planes arrival. It was now 8:45 pm and he still hadn't seen her. He knew for sure that this was her flight; he'd checked it countless times. So where was she? She hadn't passed him, he was sure of that. He would be able to spot her a mile away. Then, the door opened again, and he watched as a nervous though very determined looking young girl walked through the doors. She looked around a little until she saw him and their eyes met. They both froze and just stared at each other for what felt like the longest time. He was the first to regain the ability to move, so he walked over to her first. She dropped the small bag that she'd been holding as he stopped and stood a few steps in front of her. He warmly opened his arms to her, which she very willingly ran into. She hugged him tightly and buried her face in his shirt, clinging to him as though he might suddenly vanish at any second.

"Onii-sama" was all she said as she clung to him.

He hugged her back gently "Welcome home" he said softly into her hair.

They hugged for a little while before ending their embrace and going to get her luggage. They brought it out to his car and put it in the back seat, and then they both got in the front. They remained in a soothing and rather happy silence the entire time. It wasn't until they pulled up to a stop light about half way to his house that they finally spoke.

"Well, you've certainly grown a lot since I last saw you." He said casually looking over at her.

She laughed lightly "Yea, I guess I have." She said looking off into the distance.

"Spit…has it really been 9 years?" she said though she seemed to be off in her own little world rather then in the car at that moment.

The light turned green allowing them to continue home. He frowned a little and reached over and lifted her chin so she was looking at him.

"You don't have to worry anymore Ryuu, your safe here. You and Rose can finally be happy. I promise it'll all be fine." He said gently to her. He brushed a lock of hair off her face and smiled at her. She in turn smiled back and seemed to brighten a little.

'See Ryuu? Everything's going to be just fine. Don't worry so much' said Rose trying to help cheer her up.

'Your right. I'm sorry I'm just being paranoid.' she said trying to convince herself more then anything.

She laughed a little which made him look over at her to see what had caused her to do so.

"You guys are right. I should be happier about moving here to Tokyo. I mean, I'm getting to stay and live in a huge mansion with you after all." she said in a slightly humorous tone.

Spitfire smiled at hearing her finally cheering up. "That's right. But if you act all sulky I wont let you use the pool" he said pretending to be serious.

"*gasp* Are you black mailing me?" she said faking shock.

He pulled an innocent face "Maybe…" they both laughed as they continued on to Spitfires house.

* * *

Once they arrived at his house, he helped bring in her bags and take them up to what would now be her new room. She dropped the bag she was carrying in front of the closet and then walked over to the bed and flopped down on it. She sighed loudly as she relaxed on the bed.

"Ha, I'm glad you like it. The bathrooms just down the hall, and the kitchen is down the stairs and to your right. If you want anything else just gimmie a shout, other then that I'll leave you to getting all your stuff moved in." he said slightly humoured by her childish behaviour.

"Will do." she said giving him the thumbs up. He smiled at that and began to walk out of the room but stopped at the door when he remembered something important.

"Oh! And you'll probably want to get some rest, you'll have to wake up early tomorrow for school. I don't want you falling behi…!" he didn't get a chance to finish because she threw a pillow at his face.

"WHAT? SCHOOL? YOU;VE GOTTA BE JOKING?" she said immediately jumping off the bed as she threw the pillow.

He sweat dropped but kept smiling at her as he waved his hand dismissively "Don't worry love. It's actually an ok school. Besides I've already got your school uniform and everything." he said trying to persuade her.

She fell back on the bed and buried her face in a pillow "Fuuuuuuuuuuuuck" she moaned.

"Oh c'mon don't be such a party pooper. I bet Rose wants to go" he said teasingly, though he knew that he was right.

'Yea Ryuu! I wanna goooo! We could make some new friends here if we do!' her lighter half said to her overly excitedly.

This only made her moans of agony even louder. Spitfire sighed "Really Ryuu it'll be fine. It'd be good for you two to make some new friends. Besides…the boy who is supposed to become the next Sky King goes to that school." he said, his tone sounding a little more serious now.

She froze "The next… Sky…King?" she said quietly as she lifted her head from her pillow.

He smiled to himself as he finally managed to get her at least a bit interested in school "Mhm. And I was even nice enough to get you into the same class as him." He said as he put his hands in his pockets and turned back around to leave.

As he closed the door behind him, she sat up on the bed and ran a hand through her hair. "The next Sky king…I'm actually going to be going to school with _the next Sky King_?" she thought out loud.

'Well that should be interesting. Doesn't that make you wanna go even more now Ryuu? C'mon you know u wanna.' Her lighter half teased her. She smiled to herself and hopped off the bed to go and get ready for bed.

After she had taken a shower and gotten changed into some comfy pyjamas, she tucked herself into bed and tried to get some sleep.

'I'm so excited for school tomorrow I can't sleep…' Rose said, though she yawned a little at the end.

Ryuu smiled and hugged her mentally 'Tell you what, if your really that excited then you can go to school tomorrow, and I'll just watch' she said drowsily as she was slowly drifting off to sleep.

'Owky. Thank you Ryuu. Goodnight.' Rose said as she too drifted off to sleep.

* * *

hiiii everybody! sorry that i took like freaking five years to write this! and for it being...not so 'Romantic' and/or 'Suspenseful'. BUT this was just to get the first little bit XD. the next few chapters THANKFULLY begin to pick up the pace and the other such enjoyable things.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

'_It was dark. Why was it so dark? "Hello?" she said softly into the darkness. A light came on from above her and illuminated where she was standing in the darkness. She covered her eyes at the sudden brightness. When she moved her arms from in front of her face she saw that there was another light on a few meters ahead of her. She stared in shock at the man who was standing across from her. "Dad?" she said as she reached out a hand towards him. Another light came on right beside his, as her mother too walked over and held his hand. She couldn't see either of their faces. Her hand was still extended towards the two of them "Mom? Dad? What are you doing here? Where are we?" she said as she started walking towards them. As she walked closer, her father turned his head in the opposite direction of her mother, and let go of her hand as he turned around and walked away from the two of them. Ryuu stopped walking when she saw her father walk away. Her mother turned around and grabbed on to her fathers sleeve as she tried to make him stay, but he roughly brushed her off and kept walking. His light got dimmer and dimmer as he walked away, until finally he just disappeared into the darkness, leaving her and her mother alone. Her mother was shaking and clutching at her chest "M-mom?" Ryuu stuttered as she started to move towards her again. Her mother quickly turned around to face her, and this time she could see her mothers face. She was crying, but she was also looking at Ryuu as though she were some sort of evil demonic creature. "It's your fault that he doesn't love me! This is all your fault you…you…freak!" her mother screamed and pointed at her.'_

She jolted awake and found herself sweating. She brushed her matted hair off her face and closed her eyes to try and clear her mind, but as soon as she did, images of her mother screaming at her filled the blackness behind her eyes. So she got up and went to check the time on her phone.

"5:47 am. Well I might as well go get ready for school since there's no chance of getting anymore sleep." she sighed to herself.

Rose was still sleeping so Ryuu decided to get them ready herself, and let her sleep some more. Once she'd taken another shower to get rid of all the sweat she went and tried on her new school uniform. It amazingly was a perfect fit, aside from the abnormally short skirt…though she had to admit that Rose would probably look very cute in it regardless. Rose woke up at the mentioning of her name. She stretched mentally and yawned cutely.

'_Mmmm. Oh hi Ryuu! Sorry I didn't wake up earlier, I was just really tired for some reason…but it looks like you already got us dressed and ready for school so it's all good!_' she said to her happily.

Ryuu smiled at hearing her pleasantly cute voice so happy in the morning, it cheered her up after the dream she'd had last night. '_Good morning to you too. And don't forget that people are going to call you Sky and not Rose, their not going to know your nickname._' she reminded her gently.

'_Oh yea! Thanks for reminding me Ry-uhh I mean Phoenix! Thanks for reminding me Phoenix!_' she giggled at her mistake. Phoenix rolled her eyes but smiled as she grabbed her bag and AT's and went down stairs to leave for school.

She downed a glass of orange juice before running out the door. "Hold up just a sec" Spitfire said to her before she could run out the door.

"Hm?" she said turning.

"Make sure you're home by 5 for dinner" he said.

She laughed and nodded as she sped out the door, and down the driveway to school.

She sped across the rooftops, following the directions that Sptifire had printed out for her last night.

'_Hey Phoenix do you think we're gonna make any new friends?_ _Cause I really hope we do…_' Sky said trying to reassure herself more then anything else.

Phoenix laughed a little at this '_I'm sure you'll make a whole bunch of new friends Sky, there's nothing to worry about._'

'_Don't you mean 'we' will make a whole bunch of new friends? I mean you are gonna go to school instead of me sometimes right?_' Sky asked sounding a little disappointed now.

'_Uh…yea sure._' she replied a little sheepishly.

Sky sighed '_Your so predictable Phoenix._' but she laughed a little at the end.

They reached the school just in time for class, so they quickly switched over before anybody could see them, and took off their AT's, and put them in their bag.

* * *

He sat in his usual seat by the window, lazily looking up at the clouds. He didn't bother to pay any attention to the teacher, or the rest of the class for that matter; they were all just a bothersome buzzing noise in the background. He began to doze off a little as he leaned back in his chair putting his arms behind his head to take a rest.A few minutes later he was awakened by sudden snarling and spitting noises coming from around him, so he slightly opened his eye to see what the hell was going on.

"N-n-n-n-n-n-now class, please settle down, we have a new student today and I want for you to all be on your b-b-b-best behaviour. Now miss could you please tell us all a little about y-y-yourself?" TomTom stuttered.

He soon realized where all the snarling noises had been coming from.

"Hi everybody! My names Sky Manami! But you can just me Sky. I just moved here from America to live with my onii-sama. I like cookies, and cake but most of all I'm really into AT's!" said an overly cheering voice. The entire male population had begun to drool and whistle at the girl, who didn't really seem to understand their intentions.

"Well, thank you Miss Manami. N-now is there anybody who would like to volunteer to show Sky-san around the school?" TomTom said, causing the class to explode in a complete uproar.

TomTom squeaked a little before taking cover behind her desk "Y-you can choose!" she said scared half to death.

"Oh? Um...well I'd want someone who's nice, and wouldn't mind missing some of class…" Sky thought out loud as her male classmates all began to pose and smile at her innocently as she looked them all over.

"I know! I choose him Sensei!" she said pointing to some poor guy sitting near the middle…by the windows…

'_Fuck…_' Agito thought to himself.

"Oh…um…are you sure you want _him_ to show you around? I mean there are p-p-plenty of other people...not to mention that he's a complete psycho…" TomTom said, saying the last part as quietly as she could.

"Oh no it's fine! He looks really nice!" Sky said cheerily bouncing over to the empty seat in front of him.

'Have fun.' Agito said before quickly switching his eye patch so that Akito could take over.

Akito was slightly stunned when he opened his eye to look into light sky blue ones that were staring intently at him from the seat in front of him. The strawberry blonde giggled at his slightly taken back face

"Hi! Would you mind showing me around?" she asked cutely.

Akito quickly remembered why Agito had suddenly switched out "Oh! Of course I wouldn't mind showing you around." he answered her in his usual cheery voice.

"You can show her around now since the hallways won't be too crowded." TomTom told them as she came out from behind the desk and moved back towards the board.

"Okay, thank you Sensei." Akito said as he got up and led the new girl out of the classroom.

The blue haired boy led them down the long hallways of the school, pointing out which room was which as they went along.

"Wooow, your school is so big. I bet it even has one of those track fields…" she said more to herself as she looked around in awe at the school.

"Well actually we do have one of those too. It's outside, but if you don't mind walking I could show you it?" the boy asked her just as kindly as he'd been the whole way.

"Oooh! That sounds cool! I'd love to see it! Well I mean if you don't mind." she said excitedly.

"Oh it's no problem, I am supposed to show you around the whole school. C'mon it's this way." he said leading her down a stairwell and out onto the backfield.

She was enjoying her little tour of their new school with this boy, he was really nice and actually fun to talk to. "Hey um…can I ask you something?" she said shyly poking her fingers together.

"Sure! What is it?" he said.

"Well…um…I was wondering if maybe…we could be friends?" she said as she looked up at the boy to see his reaction, which to her surprise, was a smile?

"Of course! It must be a little scary coming to a new country and not knowing anybody." he said sweetly.

His reaction took her slightly off guard, though she was more then excited to have made a friend "Yeah! Thank you thank you!" she said hugging the boy suddenly. He fell back a bit but still laughed a little at her reaction.

"And this is the track field." he said gesturing towards the kids that were running laps for gym. One of the girls running waved to him and smiled. "Hey Emily!" he yelled back and waved.

"Who's that?" she asked curiously.

"Oh that's my friend Emily Adachi, she's really nice. If you sit with us at lunch you'll probably meet her." he said as they began to walk around the other side of the school, working their way back to the front.

"And that's all there really is left to show you." he said concluding their little tour.

"That was fun, thanks for showing me around...um sorry I didn't catch your name?" she said slightly embarrassed.

"Oh! That's okay, I never really introduced myself sorry. My names Akito Wanijima" he said smiling.

"My names Sky Manami" she said smiling just as brightly. The two smiled and happily walked back to class.

* * *

**LATER AT LUNCH**

"Hey where's Akito?" Kazu said as they all sat down to eat.

"I dunno but it's nice to finally not have him clinging to my arm" Ikki said lying back with his arms behind his head.

Ringo just rolled her eyes at the boy, though she wasn't going to complain. The door to the roof opened and Akito walked in, followed by a girl.

"Hi everybody! Is it okay if Manami-chan sits with us?" he said as he skipped over to sit down beside Ikki.

"Sure" "Of course" "Sure she can" "Yea we don't mind" they all agreed.

Sky giggled and blushed a little "Thanks!" she said.

She looked around the group for a second, unsure of where to sit at first, but Ringo quickly moved over and made space for her in their little circle "You can come sit here Manami-chan" she said patting the ground beside her.

Sky sat down next to her happily "Thanks! Oh and you can just call me Sky, I'm not really into honorifics"

"Okay Sky, my names Noyamano Ringo, but you can just call me Ringo" the red head said to her kindly. "And this is Kazu, Buccha, Onigiri, Ikki, Yayoi, and Emily. And then you already know Akito and Agito" Ringo said pointing them out as she did so, as they in turn waved or gave her a nod to say hello.

Sky giggled and waved to them all "Hi! But um…Ringo? Who's Agito?" she said slightly confused.

They all stopped eating and looked over at Akito, who looked slightly surprised "Oh! I forgot to introduce you to Agito! He's been so quiet today…Well lemmie switch over~!" and then he moved his eye patch over to the left eye.

Agito opened his eye, only to see those same sky blue eyes smiling at him from across their little circle. "Hello Agito!" said that same overly cheery voice. He just scowled at her.

"What the hell are you so cheery about?" he said crankily.

And then for some strange reason she started to giggle "You're funny" she said still laughing.

He was too tired to deal with this so he just cussed and moved to go sleep by the other side of the fence. The rest of lunch went the same really, they all got to know Sky better as they talked, and found that she was pretty nice to have around. She reminded them of Akito with her innocent and bubbly personality, except that she wasn't clinging to Ikki's arm all lunch, which he probably wouldn't have minded anyways. When the end of school came they all went their separate ways, but seeing as Sky had some time to spare, she decided that she would walk with her new friends a little ways before she went home.

"Hey! Ikki, Ringo, Akito!" she called as she ran up to them.

"Hey Sky, what's up?" Ringo asked her.

"Well I was wondering if I could walk with you guys for a little while? Onni-sama said that I don't have to be home until 5 so I thought I'd go wondering" she asked them a little sheepishly.

Ikki shrugged while Akito and Ringo nodded "Sure. We don't mind" Ikki said.

"Yea as long as you can still find your way home" Ringo agreed.

Sky nodded and smiled "Mhm! Thanks guys!" she said as she skipped along with them.

"La la la la la~" she sang happily as they walked.

"So Sky, where is it that you moved from?" Ringo asked her curiously, trying to start a conversation.

"Hm? Oh I moved here from America" she said as she continued to skip alongside them.

They all looked over at her "America? That must have been a long flight" Ikki said as he tried to count the hours. "Yea it was pretty long actually" she agreed.

"Didn't you say you came to live here with your brother?" Ringo asked.

She stopped skipping now, but still had her same cheery tone "Mhm! He was really nice and let me move in with him. Oh! Actually what time is it?"

"It's…4:45. Didn't you say that you have to be home by 5?" Ringo said looking at her a little worried.

"Yup! That's okay I brought my AT's so it should be fine. I'll see you guys later!" she said as she ran off in the opposite direction.

"Okay see ya" they all said as they waved goodbye to her.

"Did she say that she had AT's?" Ikki asked Ringo sceptically.

"Yea, she sad that she's really into them today when she introduced herself to the class" Ringo said curiously.

"Hmmm…looks like we might have a new recruit…" Ikki said as he began to scheme up lord knows what. Ringo and Akito just sweat dropped but kept walking.

* * *

**LATER THAT NIGHT**

"Oh quit your whining and get to work" Jabba said fed up with the boys complaining.

"Uuuugh! This is so stupid…" Ikki continued to say.

"I said get to work!" Jabba said leaning over the counter.

"Gaah! Please don't eat me!" he said cowering away.

"You-!"

"Excuse me but could I get a job here?" someone interrupted.

They both turned to see a fiery haired girl standing by the other end of the counter. Ikki's jaw just dropped as she walked past him to talk to Jabba.

"That depends. You know how to fix AT's?" Jabba asked as she examined the girl.

She was wearing a short black skirt with a white button up shirt, and a long red tie.

She smirked "I'd be an idiot asking to work here and not know how" the girl answered.

Jabba smiled "Well we could use extra hand…okay you can have the job. Be here every night, except Thursdays, at 8 o'clock sharp" she told her.

"Got it. So what do you want me to do first?" the girl asked her.

"Well first you can tell me your name, and then you can go help him clean" she said.

"You can call me Phoenix" the girl answered as she walked over to Ikki to help him clean things up.

Ikki tried to play it cool as she came up to him "Hey there good lookin' my names-"

"Ikki right?" she said cutting him off.

He looked at her confused "I didn't hear her tell you my name?" he asked her.

She smirked again "I guess I'm just good with names" she said as she got to work cleaning up around the Grand Slam.

He was confused, but decided that there was no point in asking any further. He got back to work, when she got up and walked over to put something away. He took a quick peek at the girl when he thought she wasn't looking; light skinned, fiery red hair that was tied back in a ponytail, slim figure, looked his age, and might he just add that she was not lacking in anything in the 'boob-to-ass' department. She turned around to see him drooling at her, and quickly brought her foot down over his head "Lecher" she said distastefully. After a little while though, they eventually began talking and got to know each other, though she ended up finding out more about him, rather then him learning very much about her.

* * *

Later that night around 11 or so, Jabba said that they could go home. Ikki wiped his forehead and put away the cleaning supplies. He turned around to see Phoenix untying her hair from its ponytail. Her hair came down to just below her butt in long straight fiery red locks. Ikki drooled as he watched her flip her hair around as she took it out.

"What are you looking at?" she said giving him an icy glare. They started to ride off together because she had to go the same way he did.

"Aha! I just figured it out!" Ikki said triumphantly.

She looked at him questioningly "Oh lord. What did you figure out?"

"All night you've been reminding me of someone and I just realized who it is!"

"Okay?" she said though she wasn't quite sure she wanted to know.

"Agito!" he said as he stopped in front of his house.

"What?" she said sweat dropping.

"Agito, he's a good friend of mine" Ikki tried to explain him to her.

She did her smirk again before turning to leave "Fer sure. Catcha later" she said revving her AT's and then disappearing.

Ikki looked around like an idiot before running inside when he heard Mikan yelling something about kicking his sorry ass if he didn't get inside in 10 seconds.

* * *

The rest of the week went by the same. Tuesday they all sat together at lunch again, Sky included. Then at night Ikki would go to the Grand Slam, and hang out while working. Wednesday was the same. Sky found they were so easy to get along with and get to know, that by the time Friday came along, they'd invited her to come over to the Noyamano house to hang out.

During the week that she'd gotten to know everyone, she'd found herself getting to know Ringo, Akito, and Ikki the best out of the group, though she was still comfortable around the others.

'_Isn't this great Phoenix? We're going to go to our friend's house after school! I'm so excited!_' Sky chimed excitedly in their mind.

'_Remember that we still have to go to the Grand Slam tonight, so we can't stay too long_' she reminded her, though she was happy that she'd made such nice friends so quickly.

Sky smiled to herself '_I won't forget_' she answered happily before tuning back into what her friends were talking about.

"So you guys are gonna battle against Behemoth? Are they any good?" Sky asked curious as to what the teams were like here.

"They're a really really good team, but I'm sure we'll be able to manage" Akito said optimistically.

"I hope you're right 'cause we really need to win this battle" Ikki said seriously, though still casual.

Buccha began to munch on some sort of sweet, custard filled dansih, and when he saw Sky looking at it googly eyed, he offered her a piece.

"Mmmmm! This is so good! Thank you Buccha-kun!" she said adoringly as she hugged his arm.

He blushed happily and ate his piece as well.

"I'm sure you guys will do great no matter what" Sky encouraged them as she happily finished her piece. They all laughed at her childish demeanour and continued walking.

Once they reached the Noyamano residence, the boys all piled into Ikki's room, and the girls in Ringo's.

* * *

**Girl's Room**

"So how'd you like your first week at JHS Sky?" Yayoi asked her as they all sat on the bed and the floor gossiping.

"It was really fun! You guys are so nice. I got so excited when you asked me to come over and hang out with you guys" Sky answered excitedly.

"You're welcome Sky. Besides, you're hilarious so have around" Ringo laughed.

Sky blushed and giggled. "Okay okay okay, now it's time to get down to the real business" Emily said taking command of the conversation.

"Real…business?" Sky asked confused.

"Yup! It's time to spill all your guts and get planning girls" Emily said in a loud whisper as though someone might be listening.

She pointed her finger around the room at them "Firstly you're all gonna confess who it is your crushing on. And then we're gonna try and figure out a way to hook em at next months trip to Kansai. So I say we start with…Ringo!" she said pointing a finger at her.

Ringo blushed and avoided eye contact "Well I…um…" she began but was cut off by Emily's laughing.

"I'm kidding Ringo. Besides…we already know who you like…" Emily said devilishly.

Ringo blushed even redder, while Sky and Yayoi covered their mouths as they laughed. "You're one to talk Emily. It's just as obvious to everyone who it is you like…" Ringo defended.

Emily's eyes turned to hearts and her body began to sway back and forth "Ahh it's not my fault. My Kazu-kun is just so adorable" she said in a cutesy voice.

Rather then laughing they all sweat dropped this time. "So Yayoi…who are you crushin' on?" Ringo said teasingly.

Yayoi squirmed uncomfortably and avoided their eyes "Um…nobody…" she said quietly, though it didn't sound very convincing.

"Huuuh! Nakayama-san likes someone~!" Sky said giggling.

This only making the poor girl blush even more "C'mon Yayoi tell us!" Emily encouraged.

"What if we guessed?" Sky suggested.

"Good idea!" Emily said.

"Hm…well you probably wouldn't go for Kazu seeing as Emily would probably kill you… but that only leaves Buccha, Onigiri, Ikki, and Agito…" Ringo thought out loud.

"Well I don't think she would go for Ikki…and Onigiri is…Onigiri" Emily said as they all laughed together.

"Well that just leaves Buccha and Agito" Sky concluded.

Emily snapped her fingers "It's Agito isn't it!" she said triumphantly.

Yayoi just blushed and nodded, still avoiding their eyes.

"Aww! That's so cute~!" Sky chimed. They all continued to gossip for a few more hours until Sky's phone went off.

"What's that?" Ringo asked.

"Oh it's just the alarm on my phone. I set it so I would remember when I have to leave" Sky answered, as she stood up and stretched.

"Awww…well okay then I guess-" Ringo began but was cut off when Ikki burst into the room.

"C'mon! You're all coming with me to the Grand Slam tonight so you can meet my new friend!" he yelled.

'_Shit! You need to leave __**now**__ Sky_' Phoenix said at hearing him mention his 'new friend' and 'Grand Slam' in the same sentence.

'_I understand. But we __**are**__ going to have to talk about this later_' she said as she started to walk out the bedroom door, squeezing past all the guys as they huddled around it.

"Where are you going? Aren't you coming?" Buccha asked her as she squeezed past him.

"I'll um…I'll meet you guys there!" she said hurrying down the hall, and running down the stairs before they could ask her anything else.

The group just stared after her as she disappeared down the stairs.

"Didn't she say that she had to leave now?" Emily asked confused.

"Yea that's what I thought she said" Ringo answered just as confused.

As they all discussed this Agito grew bored of waiting for them, he needed to go to the Grand Slam to get some parts anyways, so he decided to just go ahead without them.

"Hey Agito where are you going?" Yayoi asked when she saw him leaving.

"Fuck you bitches are so fucking slow. I'm going" he said, and with that he too walked casually down the stairs.

Once outside, he was about to take off when he saw that blonde girl slowly riding down the street.

'_Fucking amateur_' he thought as he was about to speed past her and give her a good scare, while showing her how AT's were _really_ supposed to be used, when he froze.

Her hair suddenly went straight, and then started turning a fiery red. He was dumbfounded by what he was seeing, or rather what he _must_ have been hallucinating.

"…the fuck?" he said.

The girls' body stiffened at the sound of his voice, and she quickly revved her AT's and then disappeared. He stared for a few more seconds until he heard the others walking out the door.

"Hey look guys, Agito actually waited for us" Onigiri said in his usual pig voice.

"Don't tell me you're goin' soft man?" Ikki teased as he pulled him into a noogy. (AU: a 'noogy' is when you put someone in a head lock, and proceed to rub your fist on their head roughly)

"Fucking Crow!" Agito growled as he angrily pushed the boy away. Ikki laughed as Agito sped off without them, the others following behind.

* * *

**At The Grand Slam**

"Now I want you to assemble these AT's for me. Take your time, there is no rush" Jabba said to her as she neatly put out all the AT's parts, and the necessary tools needed to put them together.

Phoenix looked at the parts for a couple seconds, analyzing their size and shape, judging the strength of the parts, and then finally coming up with a rough image of how they would look finished.

"Now you may begin" Jabba said to her.

She didn't hesitate, she immediately picked up the little wrench and screw driver and began, and as she continued to work, her movements became quicker and quicker, and after about a minute or so, she was finished. Jabba stood there gawking at the finished AT's.

"All done" Phoenix said as she picked up the tools used to put them together, and began to put them all away.

"That is quite the impressive gift you've got there" she said praising the girl.

"Thanks" was all Phoenix said in reply.

"Are you by any chance a member of Tool Toul To?" Jabba asked her curiously.

Phoenix continued to put the tools away "No, I'm not on any Storm Rider team" she answered plainly.

Jabba nodded her heard thinking, examining the girls' AT's. They were pretty plain looking to be honest, they were completely smooth, but with a fiery design on them, but the one thing she found strangest about the AT's, was that they really were _completely_ smooth. She couldn't see any place where the AT's might be strapped to her feet, or tied on with laces.

"Hmm…those are some interesting AT's you've got there" she said to her ominously.

This was a topic that Phoenix tried to avoid most times "Thanks. So I see that there's a list of things you wanted me to go get?" she said trying to quickly change the subject.

"Hey sorry I'm late we kinda lost track of time" she heard Ikki say.

"We don't pay you to be late" Jabba said flicking away her cigarette.

"You don't pay me at all…" Ikki retorted.

"Don't get picky with me!" Jabba said already agitated by the boy.

"Jeez! It was just a joke don't eat me…" he said as he slinked past her and over to where Phoenix was standing.

"Hey Phoenix. These are those friends I was telling you about" he said gesturing to the people behind him.

She'd noticed that he'd brought along some friends but hadn't really noticed who they were, but she could guess that it would be the same kids from school.

"Hey" she said as she continued to put spare parts and loose tools away.

"This is Kazu, Buccha, Ringo, Onigiri, Emily, Yayoi, and Agito" he said gesturing to them all as he said them.

Then whispering closer to her "Agito's the one I said you reminded me of"

She sweat dropped "I reminded you of a boy?" she asked him dryly.

"No no I didn't mean it that way! I just thought it 'cause you both swear a lot…" he muttered the last part.

She smirked at his let down demeanour and then looked over at the group. She already knew their faces and names, but _she'd_ never actually seen them. When she looked over the whole group and came to just the one last person, she was taken back when she noticed that he was staring wide eyed at her. She couldn't understand at first, but quickly connected the sound of his voice from Sky's memories, to that of the one she'd heard when she'd switched over earlier. She quickly turned and walked over to the counter and grabbed the list of food that Jabba had wanted her to get.

"Where are you going?" Ikki asked her surprised by her sudden hurry.

"Jabba wanted me to go out and get this stuff, I'll be right back" she said quickly taking off.

* * *

'_Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit! He saw us Sky! Fuck, fuck, fuck! What if he tells?_' Phoenix panicked.

'_Don't worry I'm sure he hasn't told anyone else yet, the others didn't seem as though they recognized you_' Sky said trying to calm her down.

'_And besides, Agito and Akito share a body like we do, so I'm sure they'll understand_' Sky continued.

'_I hope you're right…for your sake_' Phoenix said.

Sky didn't answer this, but instead just fell back and squirmed into a little corner.

They got to the little shop where Jabba had asked them to order some food, and she decided she would just wait outside and get some fresh air to cool off while she waited. There were some small tables set up outside for eating, so she sat down at one, resting her head in her hands, thinking desperately for a way to deal with this. She could try to say that he had probably confused her with someone else, though there weren't very many people with long fiery red hair, and perfectly smooth AT's. She continued to think when she began to feel…uneasy, as though they were being watched. She cleared her mind, and looked up from the table, her senses on high alert for any signs of, well, anything. She looked around on the ground first, she didn't see anyone in the alley ways, and since it was so late, there weren't any people walking or hanging around on the street. There weren't even any cars passing by at the moment. Then she turned her attention to all the windows on the buildings nearby, when she saw some movement on one of the roofs. It quickly disappeared, but that feeling kept getting stronger and stronger. Whoever it was that was watching her was pretty good at what they were doing. Usually by now she would have seen, heard, or taken care of the person, but she just couldn't seem to pin point exactly where they were.

She'd gotten tired of their little game, because they didn't seem to want to come out and play with her face to face, so she decided to go inside and check to see if her order was ready, but when she got up, he was standing there. She instantly froze when she saw his ocean blue hair, and cold golden eyes. She kept her composure as she looked him straight in the face, she wasn't scared of tried playing innocent first, just in case she was mistaken and he really hadn't seen her.

"Hey, it's Agito right? What are you doing here?" she asked him casually.

"Cut the bull bitch. Who the fuck are you?" he asked her coldly.

'_Well now he really does have quite the potty mouth doesn't he?_' she thought to herself.

She smirked at his insult, thinking that if she still lived in America, anyone dumb enough to say that wouldn't have lived long enough to talk about it.

'_Phoenix…_' Sky said to her.

She quickly regained control, focusing on the situation at hand. She flipped her hair and took a few steps towards him "Look," she said hesitantly "not...not everyone with a second person can just freely walk around saying they have one" she said as she continued to walk past him and into the store.

He blocked the door, not letting her open it "That doesn't answer my question" he glared at her.

She was now standing directly beside him. She looked down at his foot that was blocking her way, she balled up her fists and looked away from his face "My names Phoenix. Phoenix Manami" she said through gritted teeth.

She couldn't believe that she'd only been here a week and someone had already found them out. He stared at her wide eyed for a few seconds, she guessed that he was surprised by her answer, but then again who wouldn't be? She took advantage of his shock, and pulled open the door and walked inside before he could stop her again. She picked up the order and paid the man with the money Jabba had given her.

She walked back outside, pleading that that stupid boy had left, but fuck how often do wishes ever really come true? He was still standing there waiting. She sighed and slowly began the long trek back to the Grand Slam. He rode up beside her as she slowly rode along through the streets rather then jumping from rooftop to rooftop.

He watched her carefully before asking her more questions "Are you really…a second person?" he asked her hesitantly.

"Yes" she said plainly, she was getting bored of this bothersome boy, so before he could ask her anymore questions.

"Can you please stop talking? Your voice is…annoying" she said simply.

She wasn't in the mood to put up with this boy, so she raised a finger to his lips when he went to respond "And, for her sake. Don't tell anybody. It may be all well and dandy for everyone to know who you share a body with, but I can't keep her safe here if you run around telling everybody I'm her second person" she said seriously now.

He swatted her hand away and growled "Well then if you want me to keep your little secret shouldn't I at least know who it is I'm keeping it for?"

She looked at him angrily at first, then she just looked away from him and kept walking. She grumbled under her breath but agreed "Fuck…fine. But I don't understand what it is that I may know that would be of any benefit or interest to you"

He ignored that and didn't hesitate to begin asking her questions "Why don't you wear an eye patch?"

"I don't have to. I can if I want, but it's easier for me to take over if she gets in trouble when we're not wearing one"

"What do you mean when you say that? And what's the difference between people knowing we share a body, and you sharing a body?"

She just clutched the bags tighter to her chest and looked down at the ground, flashes of the past flying through her mind "There's a big difference…"

He looked at her expression and it seemed to spark a million more questions "Fuck…fine whatever" he said rather then asking her more questions.

She was a little surprised by this, but didn't complain, besides…it was her turn now.

"So since you're going to be keeping my secret…I think I should get to know something about who you are" she said mocking what he'd said earlier.

He looked at her angrily but then shoved his hands in his pockets and grumbled "Fucking bitch…2 questions and that's it" he said coldly.

She smirked, beginning to see what it was Ikki had meant about her reminding him of this boy.

"What's your name?"

He looked at her questioningly but didn't complain about her asking such a simple question "Agito Wanijima"

"Mhm…" she said.

She went silent for a few seconds before beginning to fidget uncomfortably "Do…do you ever…fade out?" she asked now sounding small.

His brow furrowed as he thought about what she'd just said "What the fuck kind of question is that?" he asked her coldly. Was she actually asking him if he was going to fade away?

She flinched a little and regained her tone and demeanour from before "Fuck it was just a simple yes or now question. If you don't want to tell me then just fucking say so" she said sounding angry now.

She sped up a little and began riding away from him. Not that he really cared, she was such an annoying bitch, but…he'd never met anyone else like himself before…so he sped up to keep pace with her. She didn't seem to want this so she in turn went faster. They were only about 5 blocks away from the Grand Slam now, which wasn't very far on AT's. She looked back at him and smirked a challenging smile, and sped up again. He wasn't the type to be bothered with such pointless teases seeing as he already knew he would beat her. But seeing as she'd just told him off, and put him in a bad mood for the rest of the night, why not kick her ass? So he sped up, and jumped on top of a low building and then continued to jump along the next few, before jumping down to give her what she had coming. Though when he jumped up, he didn't see her, all he saw was the bag of food she'd just bought lying in the middle of the road.

"Where the fuck did she-?" he began, but stopped when he heard the sound of AT's above him.

By the time he'd realized she was there, he was already in the air, making it impossible for him to change direction. His eyes widened when he saw that her AT's were no longer smooth and plain looking, but instead came all the way up to just above her knees, and the fiery design had popped out in spikes all over, making it look as though they were real flames. She smiledbefore bringing her AT's down on him. He blacked out.

* * *

He woke up on something warm and soft, his head pounding from being knocked out. He opened his eyes, sat up and looked around. He was in his room.

"What the…" he began but stopped when his head started to throb again.

Ikki opened his door "Hey man you awake?" he asked as he walked into the room, and over to his bed.

"What the fuck happened?" was his answer.

"Well after you left, Phoenix came back carrying you. She said that you'd run into a pole, and bonked your head…" Ikki said trying to muffle his laughter.

"Bullshit! And what the fuck do you think you're laughing at?" he yelled.

"Nothing, nothing!" Ikki answered waving his hand dismissively.

"So anyways I've been waiting 2 hours to ask you this…" Ikki began seriously.

Agito looked at him wondering what it was that Ikki of all people would wait 2 hours for.

"Well you left right after she did…so everyone was wondering…how far did you go?" he asked him still sounding serious.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Agito asked him confused.

"Well you guys were gone for a while…and then she carried you back unconscious and all so we all thought that you must've gone pretty far if you got knocked unconscious" he said as a lecherous smile spread across his face.

Agito growled and became extremely angry "You fucking idiot I barely even know the fucking bitch! Not to mentions she's an annoying twit who I'm gonna kill! What the fuck were you people thinking?" he screamed.

Ringo and Mikan came in to see what all the commotion was about, and when they saw that Agito was awake, their faces instantly changed, becoming overly cheery. "Hey there Agito…so me and Ringo here have been wondering how your little date with that girl went" Mikan asked him as Ringo muffled her laughter.

Agito growled, jumped out of bed, and kicked them all out of his room "What the fuck is wrong with you stupid bitches? We didn't _do_ anything with that bitch! I didn't run into a mother fucking pole! And you can all go fuck yourselves for even thinking I would like such a stupid bitch like her! Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck!" he yelled as they all flew out the door.

Agito slammed his door shut, breathing heavily from anger, and from yelling.

"Stupid fucking bitch…running into a mother fucking pole? Fucking fucker…" he grumbled on and on. He sat there angrily in bed before finally drifting off to sleep, but when sleep finally came...it was only a false sense of relaxation as the dreams quickly turned to nightmares...just like every night.


	3. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER TWO**

It was just coming up to 1 pm when someone barged into his room "Akito~!" said an overly cheery, yet frighteningly familiar voice. It was his only warning as to what was coming, as someone suddenly jumped on top of him.

"What the fuck?" he yelled as he tried to push whatever it was off of him.

"Hm? Oh it's you Agito! Good morning~!" the strawberry blonde said as she continued to cling to him.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? GET OUT!" he yelled as he pushed the girl off him. She hit the floor with a loud thud, but for some reason this wasn't enough to deter her. She giggled as she pounced on him again "What the fuck are you doing?" he yelled at her as he tried to push her off again.

"Play with me Agito! Play with me!" she squealed as she hit him in the face with a pillow.

He tore the pillow off his face and smacked her with it hard, sending her back down to the floor.

She sat up again and rubbed her head "Owy. Agito plays rough…" she said grumpily.

"You stupid-" he began, but stopped when someone came in the door way.

"So you're finally awake huh?" Ringo asked as she looked at a more then usually agitated Agito, and what looked like a grumpy 5 year old lying on the floor. "Well feel free to come downstairs for lunch anytime soon" she said as she went back downstairs.

Sky crossed her legs as she sat on the floor, smiling at him contently. He glared back at her as he got out of bed and scratched his head, when he felt an unusual bump. He thought about how he could've gotten such a lump, when he remembered what had happened the previous night, and who else was really in the room with him. He looked at her even angrier now as he rubbed the lump on his head and growled. She looked at him and seemed to understand what he was angry about.

"Oh yea…about that…I'm sorry she did that, she got a little carried away last night..." she said guiltily poking her fingers together.

He growled again and was about to retort when Akito stopped him '_Agito! She's saying she's sorry!_' his lighter half said.

He grumbled under his breath but answered her non the less "Whatever" he said throwing the pillow at her face again as he stood up and walked over to his trunk of clothes "Get out so I can get dressed" he said unzipping his trunk. He didn't hear her leave, but instead just herd the rustling of sheets as she crawled underneath his blankets. "What are you doing?" he sweat dropped.

"This way I won't see you" she said from under the covers.

He questioned whether or not this girl was sane "Get out" he said again.

"No" came her stubborn reply.

"Get. Out." He said again.

"No! Agito's a boy so there's nothing to see" she said just as stubbornly.

He was too tired and hungry to bother dealing with the girl. He changed quickly, throwing on some black jeans and grabbing a white shirt, he turned around as he began to put his shirt on, only to see her sitting on the floor cross legged looking at him curiously. They just looked at each other for a few seconds before he said anything "Pervert" he said disapprovingly.

She giggled at his accusation as she stood up and walked over to the door "Maybe if Agito and Akito weren't so adorable then maybe I wouldn't have to look" she said before walking out of the room.

Agito felt his face heat up a bit at hearing that, even Akito who was usually the first to cut in and tease him was quiet.

* * *

Sky ran down into the kitchen to find Ikki grovelling at Ringo's feet "Aw c'mon Ringo why can't you come? Agito isn't coming either!" he pleaded.

"Well it's just that I um…well you see there's this-" Ringo tried to explain, but was swiftly cut off by Mikan's foot coming down on Ikki's head.

"She said she can't come so she can't come moron" Mikan said before walking out of the room "Morning Sky" she greeted her on her way out. Sky smiled back at the pink haired girl.

'_I like her_' Phoenix laughed.

Sky smiled to herself a little. "Did I miss something?" she asked as she came and sat down beside Ringo.

"Oh no nothing unusual. I was just telling Ikki that I had something I needed to go do tonight, so I wouldn't be able to come to watch them practice" she explained.

"Practice?" Sky said curiously.

Ikki immediately resurrected to strike a bold pose, as his nose began to grow to a disturbing size "She comes to watch me and my AT team practice" he boasted.

"Oh yeah! I forgot you had an AT team Ikki! Do you think that I could come watch some time?" she was very curious to see what his team was like.

"Even better, you could join our team!" Ikki said still striking a bold pose.

Sky looked at him with huge puppy dog eyes "Really? I could join your team? I can't really ride AT's, but I'm really good at fixing them?" she said sounded mesmerized.

"Really you can fix AT's? Well that should come in handy" Ikki praised her as he walked out to go think about what sort of exposing out fit he could give her as a team outfit.

* * *

Agito walked into the kitchen; took one look at her and then switched over; cussing something about her being an annoying twit…

"Good morning Sky!" Akito greeted her. "Hey~!" Sky said as she curiously watched Akito go through his daily routine; getting a bowl of some rice Rika had left for him, and then sitting down at the opposite end of the table beginning to eat it. "Why aren't you and Agito going to practice tonight?" she asked.

"Oh…um well it's just that Agito has something else he needs to do tonight so we're going to be missing practice…" he said without looking at her.

She already knew what it was that Agito had to 'do' tonight, because it was the same thing he'd been doing every night for the past few days. He'd go out late at night, or when his team was practicing, and he'd take down other teams. The other night Phoenix had been going for a run, and found him tearing apart another team, until Ringo appeared dressed in what she assumed was a disguise, and they had a little squabble, but she had to admit that Ringo really did have some talent; being able to deflect Agito's attack.

Sky frowned a little but decided to leave it alone "So anyways I was wondering if you wanted to come shopping with me? We didn't get to bring much of our stuff with us so we need to go get some more clothes and stuff" she asked a little sheepish.

Akito seemed to perk up a little "Sure! I love shopping, but Agito might be a little stubborn…" he smiled.

"Yeah~! That's okay Agito is fun to have around" she giggled as she jumped up "I'm gonna go get my bag and then I'll be right back" she said running out of the room.

'_Shopping?_' Agito groaned '_And with her? Fuck…_' he grumbled.

'_Don't be such a sour puss Agito, this'll be a lot of fun! Aren't you excited to be making more friends?_' Akito said in their mind. (AU: don't think Akito would actually say 'sour puss' but I couldn't think of anything else ^.^')

Agito didn't answer, instead he just mentally turned his back and grumbled some more.

* * *

"That'll be $84.97 please" the cashier said as she bagged up all of Sky's stuff.

She pulled out her wallet and just handed her a $100 dollar bill. (AU: I don't really know yen…so we'll just go with this ^.^')

"How can you pay for all that?" Akito asked as he stared at all her bags of clothes.

"Oh, well Phoenix emptied out her entire bank account, and had it exchanged for yen once we got here" she said as she began to pick up her bags.

He was already holding some of her bags along with a few of his own from all the previous stores they'd been to.

"So is there anywhere else you wanted to go Akito?" she asked as they walked out of the store.

"Even if there was I don't think I could carry anymore clothes" he laughed.

She giggled a little too as they found a bench to sit and take a rest on.

"How are you going to get all this home anyways?" he asked her.

She seemed to panic a little looking around hastily at all she'd bought "Uh ooooh…maybe I should've only bought a few things and come back tomorrow…" she sweat dropped "Oh well we'll just carry it all home. It shouldn't be too bad I guess" she said sheepishly.

Akito, being the kind hearted boy he is, decided that he would help her bring her things home "Me and Agito could give you a hand?" he offered.

"Um…" she thought. '_Spitfire should be at work so it should be fine. But it is a long walk..._' Phoenix said. She felt a little guilty now that she remembered that this kind and innocent boy also shared a body with the one she'd knocked out cold the other night.

"Well it's a really long walk and all so, um, you don't really have to. I mean you probably wanna go hang out with Ikki and all your other friends right?" Sky said. In the end her efforts were wasted and he helped her carry everything home.

* * *

As they turned off onto the long dirt road that cut through a lush forest which led to the mansion, Akito finally commented on the long walk "You weren't kidding when you said it was a long walk"

She smiled sheepishly "Thanks so much for helping me carry everything. I owe you"

"Don't mention it" he smiled but was quickly interrupted by his stomachs loud cries for attention.

"Hungry?" she laughed.

"A little" he said sheepishly.

"Well it is almost lunch. If you want you could stay and have lunch at our house?" she offered.

"Sounds good to me!"

As they finally came to the long and high brick wall that meant they only had another minute or so of walking, Akito decided to switch over '_She's your friend too Agito! And she's really nice and letting us stay for lunch. The least you could do is say hi_' Akito persuaded.

'_Fuck..._' was Agito's only response.

When Agito opened his eyes, he looked down at all the bags he was carrying, and then at all the bags she still had "Do you have enough fucking clothes?" he said raising a disapproving eye brow at her.

She, just like always, didn't seem to be affected by his insults; still responding in that same annoyingly cheery voice "Hi Agito! Thanks for helping us carry all this stuff. We really do owe you" she giggled.

He just huffed and looked away "Whatever" he added another 'fuck' to the end of that.

"It must be fun having so many friends to hang out with and talk to all the time. You even get to live with one" she smiled.

He didn't reply to that, instead he just kept on walking.

"Do you think that we could be friends Agito?" she asked him; stopping before they reached the gate. He stopped walking and turned to look at her.

She was annoying. Too happy. Weak. Not to mention that her other little personality had decided to knock him out cold the other night, but for some odd reason he couldn't help but like the girl; she reminded him so much of Akito in the way that she was always so optimistic. He hadn't answered her right away so she took that as sign of uncertainty.

"Pleeeease~! Pretty pretty please can we be friends Agito?" she said moving to stand in front of him and do some childish little flail.

"Fuck! Not if you keep that up" he said moving away from her.

"Yeah~! So that means we can be friends!" she said as she skipped around the corner.

He sighed regretting his choice before following her.

He didn't know what he'd thought her house would look like…but he hadn't been expecting anything like this.

She skipped down the pathway to the front steps happily humming a nice little tune; she skipped higher to turn around and wait for her newly found friend when she noticed that he was walking slower and looking around "What's up Agito?"

"I thought you said you moved here to live with your brother?" he said looking at her questioningly.

"I do, he's at work right now though, and it was Maria's anniversary today so she isn't here either. We have the house aaaaall to ourselves~!" she said happily. She turned back around as she bounced up the stairs; putting her bags down so she could unlock the door. She took out her key and went to unlock the door, but after 3 or 4 tries at opening the door, she sighed and switched over.

Agito began to scowl as he watched that familiar fiery red hair return.

Phoenix unlocked the door and threw the key on the table just inside, and then turned around to go get the bags they'd left outside. She stopped in front of them, hold out her hand "Here" she said taking the bags from him. He didn't look at her but did as she asked. She put the bags over by the table as well, then going back outside to grab the rest.

He looked around the huge room; it would've been big enough to throw Cinderella's god damn ball in. As he looked over to the large staircase; that led to two hallways that over looked the large room for a short bit, but then vanished around the corner, she finished bringing in the bags and closed the door.

'_Great. She's a spoiled little bitch…_' Agito groaned unhappily.

'_Agito!_' said his lighter half.

'_Yea yea whatever_' Agito said as he followed her into the kitchen.

"So what do you want?" Phoenix asked him casually as they walked into the kitchen.

He sat down at the table still looking around.

"Oi" she said before throwing something at him.

He caught the cold drink and turned it around to see what it was; BOSS coffee? He looked at her questioningly, and then before he could ask her how she knew he drank it.

"Akito mentioned something about you liking that stuff a little while ago…" she said without turning around; pulling out her own can of pop, and then coming to sit at the table with him.

They sat there in awkward silence for a minute or 2 before anyone said anything; she'd been racking her brain for something she could say to satisfy Sky, when it hit her so hard she could hardly believe she hadn't thought of it sooner "Hey. Why do you want to fight that team Behemoth so bad?" she asked him while gently stirring the contents of her can, causing it to make a fizzing noise "And don't say it's to help Ikki's team get stronger, although battling that team might, that's not why you want to fight them right?" she finished.

'_So she's not a complete idiot after all..._' Agito thought, though when he went to answer her, he found himself telling her the truth "Behemoth's leader has something of mine, and now I want it back"

She smiled down at her pop can; she was already well aware of what it was he wanted.

"I hope you get it back little shark" she said as she discreetly pushed her pressure point, forcing Sky to take control of the body.

Agito looked at her confused by her sudden kindness; her face looked thoughtful, but quickly changed to an overly excited and innocent expression. He eventually switched over after a few minutes of having to deal with Sky's overly cheery attitude; she and Akito talked for a long while afterwards as they made some sandwiches for lunch.

* * *

**A FEW DAYS LATER**

"Yo, Twig that lap is no good! Keep your wheels on the damn line! That goes for the pig and the hog too!" Agito yelled angrily at the team as they practiced their wall riding. Their battle with Behemoth was in just 3 days, and they had been going through Agito's intense training the previous week as well. Sky sat on the desks with Emily Ringo and Acachi, swinging her legs over the edge as she watched Kazu, Buccha, and Onigiri practice their wall ride, Ikki mean while was lying down on the desks resting.

"Wow Agito has really been making everyone work hard" Sky said to the other girls, but they didn't have a chance to respond before Agito smashed his fist against the black board.

"You incompetent fuckers better listen to me!" Agito yelled as he began to lecture them on the details of a Cube battle, then moving on to explain how each of the Four Titans battled. Sky watched it all intently; Phoenix also listening carefully '_He's not a complete idiot after all_' she praised him. Sky just smiled as she continued to watch.

The night went by quickly, and before she knew it they were all heading home. They all walked to the front of the school together just like they had all week, then out to the front of the school where they parted ways, just like they had all week. Sky had just finished saying her goodbyes, and was about to walk off with everyone else, when something on the roof of a near by house caught her eye, unlike the rest of the week. At first she thought she it was just her eyes playing tricks on her, but when she blinked and _he_ was still there, she froze; he was smiling at her with that same blood thirsty smile. She rubbed her eyes again, and when she looked back at the house, there was nothing there.

"Hey Sky you coming?" Ikki asked as he turned back to see her still standing at the front door of the school.

Sky didn't look at him, she just kept looking at the roof of the house '_Did…did you just see that_' Sky stuttered. '

_Get back inside_' Phoenix ordered her.

Sky looked over at her friends who were still waiting for her "I think I left something inside. You guys start walking I'll catch up" she said as she turned around and ran back inside.

The others just looked at each other a little hesitant to leave at first, but all started home eventually.

'_Something doesn't feel right_' Akito thought worriedly.

Agito didn't answer, although he too could feel that something was strange about how she'd just suddenly run off, but he rode off with the other regardless.

* * *

Sky stopped running when she reached the end of the hallway; then she pressed her back up against the lockers and carefully peered around the corner; she didn't see anyone.

'_The roof_' Phoenix said.

Sky nodded, rounding the corner and kept running down the next hallway; the stairs to the second floor were at the end. As she rounded the bend up the stairs she took off her bag, pulled out a slightly bigger then usual lighter, and hid it in her sleeve.

'_This lighter isn't going to be enough to beat him if he tries to turn this into a real fight_' Sky said a little shakily.

Phoenix didn't answer, she already knew that this lighter wouldn't be enough to defeat someone on AT's, but if anything it could buy her enough time to get a head starts run if she needed to.

'_He'll probably just want to talk_' Phoenix needed to say something to reassure Sky that it was going to be okay, even if it meant lying. They rounded the last corner at the top of the stairs, heading down the hallway; up the last set of stairs and down the last hallway to the door at the end, the one that led up to the roof. She threw open the door; kept running up the stairs, and burst open the door to the roof; and sure enough, he was there waiting for them.

"Ice" she hissed.

* * *

"So it was a date?" Ikki asked him scratching his head confused.

"For the last time it wasn't a mother fucking date! All we-I mean they did was go shopping; he helped her carry all the shit she bought back to her house; and then they had lunch. That's _all_" Agito said irritably; he'd had to explain what it was Akito and Sky had done when they'd gone out all day Saturday, and Ikki as usual was being an ass and assuming they'd gone on some sort of date.

Ringo was just about fed up with them arguing so she decided to cut in and end their little squabble "It sounds like Sky and Akito are getting along really well" she said to cut off Ikki's next round of questions. Agito just grunted and kept on riding.

'_Agito can we go back?_' Akito asked still sounding worried.

'_Why are you so worried? She probably just forgot a hair clip or something_' he brushed off.

'_Please can we just check? I have a really bad feeling…_' Akito pressed on.

* * *

"Option one" he said lifting a finger as he circled closely around her "you come willingly, and Natsumi forgets any of this ever happened" he said slowly; still circling around her with a seductive and evil look on his face "Or you could resist, but then I'd have to take care of you" he said.

She smirked "And why would I willingly fall back into the well after I worked so hard to crawl out?" she turned her head so she was looking at him, with a mischievously seductive look of her own.

He stopped beside her, putting his hand under her chin and pulling her face towards his "I can think of a few reasons…" he said leaning down closer to her.

"One month" she said turning away from him and back to the door before he could kiss her.

"What?" he said confused. "Give me one month to think about what I want to do" she said still walking away.

* * *

Agito exhaled in defeat, they were only about a block away from home when he finally gave into Akito's request. He stopped and turned around to head back.

"Something wrong?" Ikki asked him.

* * *

"One month?" he said as he revved his AT's.

* * *

"Akito wants to go back and check on that blonde" he said uninterested as he sped off.

* * *

"I'm not sure whether or not you'll be able to stay alive for a whole month" he grinned. '_Shit!_' she thought as he sped towards her.

* * *

Agito sped back to the school at a casual pace; he didn't think anything would be wrong when they got there, in fact he'd probably even see her walking home as they headed back. They were only a minute or two away from the school when he began to smell something all too familiar to him; blood. He sped up.

* * *

She stumbled and fell onto the ground, twisting so that she didn't fall on her injured arm. She rolled over on the ground trying to get her legs underneath her, but she was getting dizzy, and she was out of breath. "There's no use in running Phoenix, I've already won. It's over" he said as he walked up to her casually with his hands in his jean pockets. His grey shirt was stained with her blood, and slightly charred in a few places she'd been able to burn him; but now she was all out of lighter fluid; she'd used it up when she'd created that fire on the roof, but he'd easily avoided most of the fire and quickly put it out. Her clothes mean while were torn and ripped in multiple places, coated in blood in others.

"Fuck…you" she hissed through her teeth.

He grinned down at her as she tried to stand up again. She got onto her hands and knees before he kicked her in the stomach; hard. She skidded across the dirt landing on her side coughing up blood.

Ice walked over to her again, this time squatting down and brushing hair out of her face "I could never hurt such a beautiful face…" he said as he gently ran the back of his fingers down the side of her face "But that's the only thing I'll never hurt. Your face" he said trailing his fingers along her lips.

He leaned down some more as though he was going to try to kiss her again, but she used what little energy she had left to slap him.

He just smiled at her again "Time for you to truly become a 'Sleeping Dragon'" he said, mocking the name she'd created for herself in America. He stood back up and kicked her so that she was lying on her back. She looked up at the night sky; the stars were all so bright tonight. She smiled as she realized that it would be the last time she would ever see the night sky she loved so much. She shut her eyes and braced herself for what was coming.

* * *

Thank so much for reading this! I know it's been a while since I've put up another chapter but I finally finished this one and the next one should be on it's way soon! If you guys have any questions about anything that you didn't get in the story so far, don't be afraid to messege me!

Reviews are always a lot of help and motivation ;D!


	4. Chapter 3

_**IMPORTANT: Agito and Akito are taller then in the original manga by Oh Great!, this will be more understandable in future chapters.**_

**CHAPTER THREE**

The smell of blood was getting thicker as they got closer and closer to the school. Akito was becoming frantic he was panicking so much; Agito too had to admit that he felt a small tinge of concern at the thought of that pathetically defenceless girl being harmed.

They reached the school just in time to see a strange boy standing up from beside a motionless body; a body with flaming red hair. Before even bothering to assess the situation at hand, he took off at full speed. He reached the boy in just a few seconds, and then brought his leg around and kicked the boy in the stomach. He went flying, crashing into the ground a good 10 meters away. Agito didn't bother watching to see whether or not the boy stood up again, instead he turned and bent down to see if she was still breathing. Her clothes were all torn up and bloody; her hair definitely had some blood in it; but her face was still completely untouched, a few splatters of blood, but completely unhurt. He checked her pulse and she still had a heart beat, and she was still breathing as well, just unconscious…and cold. She was alive but she was so cold.

He stood up and turned back to the boy who'd been standing over her; he was on his feet, but slightly hunched forward holding his stomach. There was blood dripping from his lips as he glowered at him angrily. "Don't try to be a hero you piece of shit" he said through his teeth, obviously in a lot of pain from being kicked in the stomach "Do you really think you can save her? Just because I don't kill her now, doesn't mean me, or someone else wont tomorrow, or the day after that, or" he stopped to wince; talking was obviously causing him pain "the day after that. And if you try to get in _my_ way next time, I _will_ kill you" he finished.

Agito didn't want to talk to this guy, he just wanted to carve his road into him, but before he could attack him again, he heard a small choking sort of cough come from behind him. He looked down for just a quick second to see if she was okay before he turned back to face the boy; but he was already gone, leaving only a small cloud of dust where he'd once been standing. He looked around but didn't see him anywhere, so he turned and bent down again.

* * *

Everything was fuzzy and disorienting, things sounded farther away then they really were, and every part of her just _hurt_. She didn't know who or what it was that had saved her, she was just glad that it had. Sky had already blacked out and it was becoming harder and harder for her to stay conscious. She'd been able to roll over onto her side as she tried to stand up; he'd managed to put her body in a state where it thought it was hot and in doing so caused her body to try and cool itself off. She was going to freeze to death unless she got what she needed to reverse it '_I never should have taught him that trick…_' she thought as she tried to keep warm by rubbing her arms. She was just starting to think about where it was she would end up if she died, seeing as heaven clearly wouldn't take her, when she was suddenly lifted off the ground. She felt herself let out a small gasp as they picked her up and took off. She could tell it was someone on AT's because of how fast they were moving. She was beginning to drift off to sleep when she finally realized that whoever it was was saying something to her.

'_I know that voice…_' she thought.

She tried to open her eyes but she couldn't quite open them all the way, although it wouldn't have mattered because everything was blurry anyways. What she made out was; something long and blue that flew around in the wind; and just one glowing yellow orb. Her head was too fuzzy for her to think about who it could've been, but they were warm and that was all that mattered. They were still trying to say something to her but it sounded too far away for her to hear, so she just curled up in their arms, clinging to their shirt as she tried to stay warm.

"Hot…water…" was all she could get out, but even if they didn't understand that, they would probably try to at least give her something hot when they go to wherever it was they were taking her. She felt her hair begin to curl as she began to fall into the darkness that ensued her mind. '_Fuck…_' was all she thought as she fell unconscious

* * *

He looked down at her when he noticed the flaming red hair had turned into a curling blonde swirl. There were a million questions racing through his mind as he sped back to the Noyamano house; but none of which were distracting enough to pull his mind off the cold body in his arms. She really was _freezing_ cold, and starting to get colder. He'd already tried talking to her but she hadn't said anything other then a whispered 'Hot water' which he could tell had took some effort on her part.

'_Just a few more houses_' he thought as he jumped from roof to roof. He couldn't go as fast as he wanted to because he had to carry her, but he was going fast enough to reach the house in half the time.

When he reached the house he kicked the door open and walked in; that was enough to draw some attention from the two other residents; Rika, Ume, and Mikan were away on another one of Rika's 'business trips'. As he kicked the door closed behind him, Ringo poked her head out of the kitchen to see what was going on.

"Well you're- ah!" she seemed as though she were going to scorn him for something but her attention was quickly drawn to the barely conscious girl in his arms. "What happened?" she asked running to him as he put the girl down on the couch.

"How the fuck am I supposed to know? By the time I got there she was almost unconscious" he started, then hesitated a moment "But there was some guy with blue hair standing over her when I got there. I didn't recognize him" he finished.

Ringo made a face as she bent down beside the girl, putting a hand on her forehead "She's freezing" Ringo said surprised as she quickly got up and went back out into the hallway to get something from another room, telling him to get her a blanket as she did. He didn't bother to hang around any longer; he'd been kind enough to bring the girl here, so why did he have to do anything else for her? He switched the eye patch.

* * *

Akito quickly ran into the hall to get a blanket from the closet. He grabbed a warm looking one and then ran back to the room, and got quite a shock when he finally got a good look at her face; she was pale, her lips slightly bluish, her eyes were closed as she shivered. He laid the blanket out over her body, and as he put it on her shoulders, she slowly took his hand and opened her eyes to gaze deeply into his own

"H-hot w-w-water" she said in a small shaky voice.

"I think Ringo just went to go fetch you something hot to drink" he said to her soothingly.

Her eyes were still half closed, but they were looking straight into his, and for the first time, he noticed how unnatural they looked; they were definitely a sky blue, but they seemed flat with no depth to them, no emotion almost. He didn't get to think about it much longer because Ikki walked in to see what all of the commotion was about.

"What's going on Akito? What's Sky doing here?" he asked walking up to them.

She'd already let go of his hand and slumped back down under the covers as Ikki kneeled down beside her on the floor.

"Woah what happened to you?" he said looking at her pale face.

Akito hadn't asked anything about what had happened before they'd found her yet, but now his curiosity got the better of him "When me and Agito went back to check on her, we found her like this on the ground with some guy standing over her" Akito said giving her a questioning glance.

"What?" Ikki said "Did you recognize him?"

"No" he replied after a second of thought.

Ikki turned looking down at her with more concern this time "Do you know who it was that did this to you?"

Sky shook her head as she sunk lower under the blankets, only her eyes and up visible. Just then Ringo walked back into the room with a hot mug of what appeared to be tea.

"It's still pretty hot so be careful" Ringo said as she handed her the cup of tea.

They sat in silence for a minute or two as Sky drank some of her tea. They asked her a few questions about what had happened and what the boy that attacked her had looked like, but for the most part she just frowned and shook her head, saying that she hadn't really gotten a good enough look at him. All the while Akito fidgeted silently, knowing that what she was saying was probably a lie, but he could tell she wasn't enjoying telling her story. Agito meanwhile sat silently cussing as he listened to her, obviously pissed that she wasn't telling the truth, or at least not all of it.

* * *

After they'd discussed what had happened Ringo decided that she could just stay the night seeing as her brother was busy that night and wouldn't have been able to pick her up. She took a shower to clean up all the dried blood and such, put on some pyjamas Ringo had lent her and headed back downstairs to find out where she'd be sleeping.

"You can sleep in Akito's room" Ringo said as she got up from the couch.

"But where will Akito and Agito sleep?" she asked, she felt bad enough for intruding on her new friends, let alone making one of them sleep on the couch while she took their room.

"It's okay I'll sleep in Ikki's room~!" Akito said as he began cuddling with Ikki's arm.

Ringo sighed as the cute scene turned into more of a wrestling match which escalated when Akito's eye patch was shifted and Agito began to beat the crap out of Ikki.

"Are they always like this?" she asked as she followed Ringo out of the room.

"You guessed it" Ringo replied tiredly as she led her to Agito and Akito's room.

Ringo opened the door to Agito's room and Sky took her first good look at the room. Previously when she'd slept over and come into have a pillow fight with him; she'd been so focused on her surprise attack that she hadn't really looked around the room. Now she noticed that it was…not very boyish. There were dirty clothes thrown on the floor, but they were all pushed into a pile in the corner; there were AT parts lying around, but they were in a small circle off to the other side of the room; and the bed was messy, but everything was still roughly where it should've been. And it wasn't _dirty_, just a little messy but still neat; most boys rooms were always messy and dirty with food and things lying everywhere.

'_This is definitely their room…_' she thought.

"Thanks again for letting me stay over Ringo" she said.

"Don't worry about it" she smiled

"I'm gonna call it a night" she said as she turned to go to her room

"Night Sky. I'll be right down the hall if you need me"

"Owky. Good night Ringo" she smiled back.

As the door closed, her smile disappeared '_It's not safe here…_' she thought as she went over what had happened.

'_Don't think about that right now_' she said to herself as she stood up and began to put the bed back in order. As she did, the door suddenly flew open to reveal a less then pleased Agito.

* * *

"Hi Agito~! Thanks for letting me sleep in your room~" she said in that same innocent voice. Fuck she was annoying….

"Tsh. If it were up to me you'd be walking home" he said going over to his closet.

He pulled open the door and reach onto the top shelf to grab Akito's pyjamas, but as he did, something wrapped around his torso.

"Can I sleep with you and Akito? Phoenix isn't awake yet and I don't like sleeping alone" she said for the first time not sounding like a bubbly 6 year old, but like a puppy who'd just been kicked.

Regardless of how sad she sounded he wasn't about to be sharing a bed with her, they would never let him live that one down…

"Fuck! Let go of me!" he said as he pushed her arms off of him, but she persisted and held on tightly

"No!"

"Damn it let go fucker!"

"Sleep with me!"

This continued to go on for a few minutes before he was able to throw her onto the bed, cuss some more, grab Akito's pyjamas, and get the hell out.

* * *

She sat up grumpily frowning at the door. Well…fine! If he wasn't going to let her share a bed with him then fine! She could sleep by herself…alone…in the dark… She quickly weighed her options before coming up with a plan. She lied down under the covers waiting for the right moment to put her plan into action…

* * *

Akito had started off sleeping on the couch like he'd been told, but just like most nights he snuck into Ikki's room and slept with him instead. But strangely, unlike most nights, rather then him cuddling with Ikki it seemed as though Ikki were cuddling with him. The day had finally come! Ikki was returning his love! Thankfully his arms seemed to have already wrapped themselves around Ikki's slight torso…? He could feel Ikki's gentle hands holding onto his shirt…? His face was pressed into Ikki's soft tropical scented hair…? He opened his eyes to see a swirling tumble of golden curls, and a very happy very asleep Sky curled up to his chest. He flushed as he looked down at the girl in shock. So he'd…he'd been cuddling with her and _not _Ikki all night? As he looked over to where Ikki should've been sleeping, he realized that they were the only two people in the bed; Ikki was already awake.

Akito hadn't noticed that the door was still open and that said boy along with Onigiri had been watching his little discovery.

"Well now what do we have here?" Onigiri said suddenly kneeling behind her on the bed "If you'd like I'd be glad to take her off your hands?" he said with a lecherous smile spreading across his face as he licked his lips greedily.

Well he certainly wasn't going to let Onigiri anywhere near the poor girl while she was sleeping so…he switched over his eye patch.

* * *

Agito was only half awake when he felt his lighter half switch out with him. As par usual he woke up in Ikki's bed with who he expected to have caused the switch do to his struggle to get Akito off him, but when he sat up and looked around, he fond the situation quite different. Onigiri was currently drooling over who he thought was Ikki, but turned out to be that annoying blonde he'd saved last night. At first, he just frowned and grumbled in distaste, moving to get out of bed, but when the girl started rubbing her eyes, which he took as a sign of waking up, he noticed that a strand of her hair slowly began to turn red and straight… He didn't know how or why what happened next began to occur, all he knew was that he was kicking and shoving the other two out of the room, and locking the door behind them. He turned around and looked back over at the bed; her hair was uncurling from its golden tumble and into a fiery swirl across the bed. She slowly pushed herself up into a sitting position on the bed, still rubbing her eyes. When she finally stopped and he got a good look at her face, he saw that she was crying?

"What the fuck's with the tears?" he smirked at her.

She made a face and then reached up to her eyes, pulling the 'tears' off her face.

"Their contacts you dip shit" she said as she took them off her face and got up off the bed.

She was wearing a light pink tank top, a pair of orange shorts (obviously Ringo hadn't just lent her her own clothes), and to top it off, her hair was falling over half her flushed face. There was a word to describe how she looked…

'_Pretty? Beautiful? Ho-_'

'_NO!_' Agito shouted angrily at his lighter half.

Akito merely giggled because he could tell that one of the words he'd said had obviously been the one Agito had been looking for.

"Oi? Are you deaf or something?" she said, snapping him back to reality.

"A little gratitude would be nice considering I saved your sorry ass last night" he said folding his arms and leaning against the door.

"That was…you?" she said looking at him surprised.

"How the fuck do you think you ended up here?" fuck this bitch was an idiot.

She growled a bit but he decided to continue on without her response

"So, who was it that attacked you anyways?" he said looking her straight in face.

She didn't look back at him, instead she turned her head away and uncrossed her arms.

"It's…nobody I can't handle by myself" she said in a small voice, before switching over, her hair turning into bright golden curls.

The blonde blinked a few times before putting her contacts back in, and then smiling at him like nothing had happened.

"What's for breakfast?"

* * *

Thanks for reading :D!


	5. Chapter 4

Preview of Chapter 5 is now up!

**CHAPTER FOUR**

After what he found to be a rather awkward and tense breakfast, though it obviously wasn't for Ringo and Ikki-kun, Sky called for her brother to come pick her up. It was a strangely quick phone call with her answer of "I'll explain later" some how covering her night long absence seeing as it was quickly followed by a "See ya soon". Akito found himself abnormally drawn away from the girl after the mornings events, though he did come down to say goodbye when they heard a car honk.

"Thanks again Ringo for letting me stay over~!" she said glomping an unsuspecting Ringo.

"I'll see you guys at your Behemoth battle tomorrow night!" she said to the others as she gave Ikki-kun a hug.

"Thank you Akito~! Thank you Agito~!" she said as she glomped him as well. But unlike the others when she pulled away, she rubbed her nose back and forth against his a few times giggling before running and hopping into her brothers' car.

* * *

"I'm sorry Ikki-kun I swear it didn't mean anything I promise!" Akito shrieked as he clung to Ikki's arm.

'_Poor guy…_''he thought as he pulled his beanie over his face to shield his eyes from the sadness they would've witnessed otherwise…

* * *

THE NEXT NIGHT

They were so fucked. They were so over whelmingly FUCKED. They had absolutely no chance of winning against this team. Not only was Behemoth full of B class riders abusing the system to stay in D class, but they were an enormous team, with a thousand riders under its control.

'_Don't be so pessimistic Phoenix!_' Sky cried distraught by her thoughts of her newly found friends being crushed.

Phoenix didn't have time to reply as she heard somebody coming up from the pipe behind them, so she quickly switched over.

* * *

"Where's Sky? She said she was going to come?" Yayoi said as she searched the vast sea of heads in search of the strawberry blonde.

"Maybe something came up?" Ringo said as she was more fixated on Kogarasumaru then anything else.

"Poor Akito, he was really excited for her to come see their first big battle" Emily said as she too began to focus her attentions on the team.

* * *

"It's nice to meet you~!" she introduced herself to the spikey haired boy.

"Like wise" he said as he seemed to examine her; not in any sort of perverted way, but more of a suspicious once over, though he didn't question her or Spitfire about how they could possibly be related.

'_He seems pretty young to be the Thunder King. Impressive_' Phoenix praised as she in turn examined the boy from within their mind.

Sky turned to cling onto Spitfire's arm as the team began to desend down the tunnel.

'_Good luck guys_' she thought.

'_You'll need it..._' Phoenix put in as she sat back and watched carefully as the battles began.

* * *

Insert Behemoth Battle Here

(AN: there is nooooo way I'm re-writing all that, so if you need to just go re-read/watch it.)

* * *

Sky looked around as the mass of Behemoth supporters began to riot in the stands, becoming one huge angry mob. Things became even crazier when under cover officers suddenly emerged from within the croud and began taking down riders. Spitfire informed her that it was time to leave, but she was more interested in finding him. Where was he? Was he okay? She'd seen what that 'beast' boy had done after the match had ended, and now she needed to find him and help him otherwise he might get trampled in the croud or even worse- she stopped when she finally found him on the other side of the enormous underground, and she didn't like what she saw. He was lying on the ground as some tall silver haired man was about to whip him. Instinct took over.

* * *

Emily and Yayoi looked around desperatly for Ringo, but found it difficult as they were at risk of being crushed as they tried to get out. As they were trying to push their way through the crowd, they continued looking for Ringo, but as they did they suddenly saw a yellow streak go soaring across the top of the tunnel. But as they continued to stare confused as to why Sky was here, let alone using AT's, her hair suddenly began to become a fiery streak of red hair.

"What the-!" neither finished their sentences as they were suddenly carried away with the wave of people trying to get out.

* * *

She was already in mid air when Sky switched, so by this point there was no real way to stop what she was already doing. She reached a bar supporting the ceiling and just pushed off it to propel herself the rest of the distance to the other side. Sparks flew as she grinded to a perfect stop, and then stood up straight between Agito and the silver haired man.

"You little shit you're interupting our family reunion" he said to her as he suddenly whipped the ground threateningly.

She just glared at him without moving. He suddenly pulled his arm all the way back and whipped her hard, but she was ready for it. She allowed the whip to wrap itself around her arm a few times before he could pull it back; she pulled to give it some tension, and then brought her leg up and sliced off her end. He jolted forwards a little as it cut, but quickly regained composure and pulled out his gun and pointed it at her. Before he could go any further though, the other girl that had been carrying the Behemoth leader stepped in front of him with her arms held out.

* * *

Insert her speech here.

(AN: dear lord these 'Insert here' things are makin' me feel guilty...but again you can just go re-read/watch this if you need to.)

* * *

She suddenly turned and walked over to kneel beside him.

"C'mon" was all she said as she took his arm and put it around her shoulders, wrapping her own arm around his waist to hoist him up.

He was too drained and shocked to push her away, or tell her off, so he just accepted her help. They followed Kaito as they led Akira down to the helecoptor. He didn't stay awake for long though, just long enough to see the helecoptor leave, and then, he passed out.

* * *

"We brought you some comfy pajamas to wear Agito-sama! They'd look super cute on you!"

"Oh Agito once we heard you were in the hospital we came first thing!"

"_Say aw sweety_"

"_Time to change your pajamas little boy..._"

"We'll come back everyday to eat some of these bananas for ya dude!"

"YOU FUCKING-" he began but stopped when she walked in.

"Well you seem to be doing well" she smirked.

The others all turned to look at her, and the next thing he knew, they couldn't get out fast enough; saying things like;

"Well we'll come back and see you later Agito"

"We'll just let you guys have some time alone" and so on.

She watched them leaving the room looking just as confused as he was. When the door finally closed and they were alone, she turned back to look at him as she walked over to sit beside his bed.

* * *

The rules were the same as when he'd last come over to Spitfire's house, she had to talk to him for a little while before Sky would let her switch out.

'_He's your friend too Phoenix! And I know you like talking to him_' Sky said.

"How's the shoulder?" she said in an attempt to start a conversation with the grumpy looking boy.

"Fine" he said.

Well someone wasn't in a social mood. So be it, if he wasn't going to talk then it would be the perfect time to say it.

"That was pretty impressive down there. You were actually able to pull off Leviathan's Fang without a Regalia..." she said as she absently began to draw small cirlces on his sheets; leaning her head on her hand.

"But I mean you'd have to be to carry the title of a King right?" she was really just trying to tell him that she thought he was good at AT, but didn't know quite how to phrase it...

"Whatever...thanks" he said obviously trying to brush this aside.

The room fell silent.

'_God damn it I hate awkward silence..._' she thought becoming frustrated.

"Can you _please_ just be social for a little while? She wont let me switch out until I've talked to you for a while" she said dropping her head onto the bed with an audible thud.

"Poor you" he said leeringly.

"You're terrible you know that?" she said looking back up at him.

"If I'm so terrible then why did you help me?" he retorted.

It was a good come back...why had she saved him? Sky had already been half way there when she'd switched over...but that wasn't really an excuse because she could've just pushed off the ceiling and in the opposite direction.

"Tch! It's not like I _wanted_ to save you...Sky switched over half way there so I didn't have a choice" she said sitting up and crossing her arms on the bed.

She hadn't wanted to save him...yea that was right she hadn't wanted to save him...that was easier to believe then thinking she'd wanted to save him back there.

'_You're in denile_' Sky teased her.

'_I am __**not**__ in denile!_' Phoenix retorted.

'_Nooooo I think you are..._' Sky pressed on.

They continued on like this until he was able to regain her attention.

* * *

"OI YOU DEAF BITCH I SAID THANK YOU!"

"WHAT KIND OF THANK YOU WAS THAT?"

"YOU STUPID UNGREATFUL BITCH!"

"WATCH IT FISH BOY OR I MIGHT ACCIDENTALLY PUNCH YOUR BROKEN COLLAR BONE!"

"BRING IT BITCH!"

They all sighed in unison as they watched them argue from small door window.

"It's as if they were made for one another" Kazu said as they began walking back down the hallway.

"Give it a week and they'll strangle eachother" Ikki said.

"I dunno Crow. It's not everyday you meet someone else like Agito and Akito. The guys probably real happy to know there's someone else like him" Buccha said thoughtfully.

"I wonder why she wanted to keep that a secret?" Emily thought out loud.

They all thought this over as they left the hospital.

* * *

Hope you enjoyed this!

Next Chapter

The school trip to Osaka!

With perhaps a hint of romance?

Maybe some secrets?

Maybe some crazy foreshadowing?

Who knows?

Guess you'll just have to read the next chapter to find out ;D

**CHAPTER 5 PREVIEW**

"Yeah! Isn't this great? We're going on a trip! We're going on a trip! This is gonna be so much fun~!" Sky squealed as they boarded the train.

Phoenix didn't question why she would be so excited to go on a trip like this after how they'd been living back in America, because the answer was reverberating so loudly within their mind it was impossible not to hear.

'_We're going on our first school trip with our new friends! Aren't you excited Phoenix? I'm excited!_' she cheered even in their mind.

Phoenix smiled, happy to see Sky so excited and happy.

'_I'm glad you're so pumped for the trip_' she laughed in response.

"I call the window seat~!" she said jumping into her seat.

"As if" Agito said standing in the aisle.

"But Agito..." she started.

Why on earth had she wanted to sit beside such a grump? Because they were 'best friends' is what Sky had told her. Well, whatever makes her happy I guess...

"Ringo and them are sitting across the aisle. So if you sit here you can talk to them" he said.

"Ohhh, okay~!" Sky said hopping up and giving him the window seat.

A couple weeks ago Phoenix would've been shocked to hear him talking like that to Sky of all people, but he seemed to get that persuading her was quicker and she would usually go for it. None the less it was still strange to hear him talking to her rather than arguing or yelling.


	6. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER FIVE**

"Yeah! Isn't this great? We're going on a trip! We're going on a trip! This is gonna be so much fun~!" Sky squealed as they boarded the train.

Phoenix didn't question why she would be so excited to go on a trip like this after how they'd been living back in America, because the answer was reverberating so loudly within their mind it was impossible not to hear.

'_We're going on our first school trip with our new friends! Aren't you excited Phoenix? I'm excited!_' she cheered even in their mind.

Phoenix smiled, happy to see Sky so excited and happy.

'_I'm glad you're so pumped for the trip_' she laughed in response.

"I call the window seat~!" she said jumping into her seat.

"As if" Agito said standing in the aisle.

"But Agito..." she started.

Why on earth had she wanted to sit beside such a grump? Because they were 'best friends' is what Sky had told her. Well, whatever makes her happy I guess...

"Ringo and them are sitting across the aisle. So if you sit here you can talk to them" he said.

"Ohhh, okay~!" Sky said hopping up and giving him the window seat.

A couple weeks ago Phoenix would've been shocked to hear him talking like that to Sky of all people, but he seemed to get that persuading her was quicker and she would usually go for it. None the less it was still strange to hear him talking to her rather than arguing or yelling.

Most of the train ride there Sky spent talking with the other girls, occasionally turning to see if Agito was awake, which he never was.

When they arrived in Osaka, they first went to the university dorms where they would be staying to put their suit cases and such away. After that they re-boarded the bus and went to see some historical monuments. Sky spent most of this time talking with Akito, but when the group stopped as the teacher lectured them about the history of the monument and its surroundings, she was pulled aside by Emily, Yayoi and Ringo.

"Okay girls listen up!" Emily whispered to them.

Sky looked sideways at Ringo questioningly, who in turn shrugged with a confused look of her own.

"Look around you, and tell me what you see" Emily said as she turned to observe the group of kids from their school.

"Um...a big group of kids?" Sky asked.

"No no no! Look closely..." Emily said turning back to the group.

"I don't see anything Emily" Ringo shrugged.

"It's there! There! There! And There!" she said pointing out people in the group.

"Everyone's hooking up!" Emily said frantically.

"This is the trip! If you don't hook up with someone now, then there won't be anyone left by the time we get back to school!" she finished.

"Good point..." Yayoi agreed as she too seemed to see what was going on.

Sky stood awkwardly unsure of what she was supposed to do or say.

"We have to do our best on this trip! So, who is it you're going to go for, so that we don't end up going for the same people?" Emily said as she huddled them all together.

"Uhmm..." Sky said awkwardly.

"Kazu-sama is mine, just in case any of you guys were wondering" Emily said looking at them suspiciously.

The three girls looked at each other and then started to laugh.

"What's so funny?" Emily said confused.

* * *

LATER THAT DAY

As they explored the market place, the girls and Akito, came across a costume store, which gave Emily a great idea. After explaining the idea to them, they then had to pursuade Akito to help them, which didn't take long seeing as they had Sky on their side.

"Okay then. We'll all meet back here after we're done" Emily said as they all rushed into the store to find their costumes.

Once everyone had picked out a costume, they all went to the change rooms. Emily and Yayoi were done first, but they took a while longer as they had to get Ringo ready as well. So, he went and paid for his rental costume, and then wandered around the shop while he waited.

"Akito?" someone called form behind him.

He turned to see Sky holding a little picnic basket wearing a short blue pleated skirt, white tank top, knee high red and dark red striped socks, brown fold over boots, and that signature red hood.

"You look adorable~!" she said as she suddenly hugged him, rubbing her face into his shoulder.

"Thanks" he said patting her on the back.

"Your costume looks nice too" he smiled back.

A Red Ridinghood costume was almost ironic because of how innocent both she and the character were, it was a very fitting costume for her.

'_She looks pretty_' Akito thought.

The two explored the store a little before Emily and Yayoi called them over to begin putting the plan into action.

At some point while they were executing the plan, Sky had switched over. It still made him feel a little guilty when he saw her switch over in front of everyone. She'd trusted him to keep their secret, and she'd ended up having to expose it when she saved him and Agito from Kaito. He tried not to linger on the thought for too long though, because whenever he did Agito would always scorn him, saying that it was her own 'damn' fault and-

"You coming cutie?" Phoenix said pulling him out of his day dream.

He looked over to see that the others were already running ahead to watch Ikki and Ringo, and then Phoenix just a few meters ahead waiting for him.

"Coming!" he said as he ran after them.

Meanwhile Agito sat in a corner of their mind grumbling furiously over being called 'cutie'.

After commencing with plan "The Magic of a School Trip + The Big Change from the Ordinary Days Special Plan" they all had to run and hide so as to give Ringo and Ikki some time alone. Phoenix had to admit it was a clever plan, and it was amusing to watch as they all started to run and hide in a small store that overlooked the alleyway they were in. Though she couldn't help but wonder why Sky wanted her to be doing all of this when Sky usually would've killed to be having this much fun with Akito and her friends.

Only half her mind was thinking about this as she waited at the bottom of the ladder for Akito.

"Ladies first" she smiled, gesturing for him to go first.

He knew she was just teasing, but she wasn't teasing _him_. Even when she looked at him it was as though she were looking straight through him, right to the back of his mind. Right at Agito. He didn't need to ask his brother if he felt this because it was so plainly obvious by his suddenly agitated demeanour. He didn't say anything, he just fidgeted uneasily, and it only made it worse when she smiled as if she could _see_ his discomfort. She was still smiling as she flipped up her hood, and switched. As she did, he noticed that not only Phoenix's hair changed, but her cheeks became more rosey when Sky took control of their body. It was something he'd never noticed because they'd never been close enough when they switched for him to notice. It was...interesting...

He climbed up the ladder and into the little attic like space above the alleyway. He shuffled up beside Emily as he began focusing on Ikki and Ringo below, assuming Sky had climbed up, and crawled in beside him. It wasn't until Emily scorned the people who had apparently been on the other side of Yayoi for talking so loudly throughout the entire time they'd been watching the two below that he noticed Sky wasn't beside him anymore.

And then the screaming started.

Someone had started screaming from just outside. But it didn't stop there. Emily and Yayoi began as well when the people Emily had been yelling at suddenly attacked all 3 of them, tying up himself along with the girls, beating up Buccha, Kazu and Onigiri. He put up a bit of a fight, but seeing as their attackers were wearing AT, it would probably be best to let them take them to where ever it was they were going to. He'd probably be able to learn something about the team he was almost certain was behind their kidnapping.

As they were dragged back outside, he saw that Sky was struggling on the ground with two of the thugs, as they duct taped her mouth and tied her hands behind her back. It'd probably been her who screamed. As he watched while they drug him, Emily and Yayoi to the car, Sky just suddenly stopped moving, and her hair unravelled and turned into that fiery red tumble. Phoenix didn't struggle as they picked her up and brought her over to the car with them, tossing them all in roughly.

* * *

Because they'd all been thrown carelessly into the back seat, the four of them were all over each other. Emily and Yayoi had their faces pressed up against the one door, whereas she'd ended up on top of Akito against the other door. Her back was to him so she assumed he was probably just squirming because he was uncomfortable, but that wasn't the case when she turned around to see what he was doing. His eye patch had been shifted during the commotion, but had ended up getting stuck half way. So when she looked up at his face, she saw one amber eye, and one burning gold. She couldn't use her hands because they were tied behind her back, but she knew what it was like being stuck halfway so...

* * *

His head was starting to hurt from being stuck halfway like this, but he wasn't stuck for much longer. He suddenly felt something warm against his face, and then Agito was in control of the body. He blinked once or twice to refocus his eye, and once it did, he was slightly surprised by how she'd moved his eye patch. Since her hands were behind her back she'd decided to use her nose to push it over, making her face uncomfortably close to his. But before she was able to move her face away, the car made a sharp left turn, and their faces were pushed together.

What happened next was probably one of the last things he would've ever imagined he would do in his life. Because their faces had been so close when they turned the corner, their mouths had been pushed together. But it wasn't really a kiss or anything because they both had duct tape over their mouths…right?

* * *

She stared mortified by what had just happened. Or had it even happened? Their mouths had duct tape over them…so it didn't _really_ count…right?

While she pondered this however, the car had stopped as they had reached where ever it was they were being taken. The thugs got out, tore open the doors, and hauled them back out of the car, dragging them all over to what looked like an enormous warehouse.

Once inside they were grouped together in the center of the large room they were being kept in, and judging by how they were sneering and looking at them, were going to be given a good beating. But she had to admit, they never had a chance to begin with. Emily gave the group of men a good beating, and made sure all of them were thoroughly acquainted with her shoes.

As Emily splayed herself out relaxing on top of the group of defeated, and likely infertile group of men, Phoenix walked over to sit on the farthest wall and began looking around the room more carefully.

'_Trident's main base I'm assuming_' she thought out loud in their mind as she observed the giant emblem painted on the back of the giant doors.

She sat down a few meters away from the doors against the wall.

'_We shouldn't be here_' she thought as she pulled her AT's out of their bag, and began putting them on.

'_They don't seem to recognize us, and besides we can't just leave our friends_' Sky said at the thought of leaving them behind.

'_I never said anything about leaving, if anything we could probably learn some more about what's been going on here if we stayed_' she told her reassuringly as a cold smile played across her lips.

"Fuck!" she heard him yell.

She looked up to see Agito viciously attacking who she now knew to be members of Trident.

It was truly beautiful.

He was wearing a pair of AT's taken from one of the other beat up members, but even that didn't seem to hold back too much of his abilities as a rider. Their bodies were whipped about in such a way it resembled a child playing with string puppets. Their blood staining the ground, as the glass windows shattered, creating a mesmerizing display of shimmering blood.

He fit in so perfectly with the grotesque beauty of the scene. His cold, majestic silhouette completing the perfect portrait of monstrous beauty.

As he landed gracefully back on the ground, the large doors opened to revel Ikki along with Ringo. As they began what was apparently important talk, but completely void of anything of importance to her, one of the generals suddenly said something of slight significance to her.

"But before we begin," the man called Yoshitsune started,

"I have just one tiny request" he said to Ikki.

"Don't bother" she said as she finished putting her AT's on,

"I don't plan on being his landing pad" she said as she looked at the man coldly.

He seemed to have expected this, as he smirked and continued on with the 'festivities'. Sky didn't complain, as she understood why it was necessary they observe from the sidelines. She too needed to know if their win against Behemoth had simply been good luck, and if he really had what it took to even be considered a runner up for the Sky Regalia.

Things seemed as though they were going to go well, until Ikki tried using Agito's fang to jump the full 33.3 meters. Yoshitsune was less then pleased, and ripped the fang out of the air with his Rumble Regalia. She quickly jolted up as things seemed to be going downhill. Agito too quickly sped forward as Ikki crashed on top of Ringo. But he didn't go more than a foot before Benkei cut in front of him, and kicked him in the face with her AT. That was breaching her comfort zone.

* * *

He'd just been able to raise his hands in time to stop her from kicking him in the face, the chain on his hand cuffs stopping her heel just a few inches away from his face.

"This battle is between team leaders. It'd be against the rules to stick our noses in right?" Benkei smiled.

"How about you? Any idea whose way you're sticking your fucking boot in right now bitch?" he retorted.

"Yep. And I'll keep you company. C'mon over here" she waved to him.

Before either could say anymore, there was a tearing, then a cracking noise. And then, he felt someone put their arms over his shoulders, wrapping one around his neck, and letting the other fall over his chest.

"I don't think I could handle another woman in my little Agito's life" they said as Benkei's pants tore in a spiral up her leg, and all down the other, ending with the chains on his hand cuffs shattering to pieces like glass.

He didn't need to look to know who it was that had wrapped their arms around his shoulders.

"That attitude of yours is going to get you in some real trouble someday" Benkei said lowering her leg.

"I don't see that day coming anytime soon" Phoenix smiled back.

Benkei didn't respond to this, instead she turned and began walking over to stand by the now calm Yoshitsune, as Ikki prepared to try the jump again.

* * *

He brushed her off roughly as he walked back over to stand near the platform.

"Don't treat me like a fucking baby" he growled.

"Calm your balls sushi boy" she smirked back as she stood beside him.

She'd begun to focus on Ikki as he tried again and again to make the jump, but was pulled out of her concentration.

"What the hell happened to your clothes?" Agito said sounding less than impressed.

"Hm?" she said absently as she looked down at her clothes.

She hadn't been very careful when she'd sped over and given Benkei a small nip, she'd ended up tearing her own clothing as well when she'd fully opened her AT's, allowing the spikey metal to wrap up her legs like a flash fire.

"Oops" her skirt had gone from mid-thigh to super mini skirt, and her top no longer covered from her waist to just below her chest.

"I'll change when we get back to the dorms" she said focusing back on the jump.

But she could still feel a strange glance coming from him, so she looked over to see his eye twitching as he looked at her as though she were crazy.

"What? Am I distracting y-" she stopped abruptly when she felt a sudden surge of energy run through her body.

She focused back on Crow, to see that his face had become focused on something far off, something that seemed to pull him towards it. The sky. As she watched him rev his AT's, preparing to jump, that feeling grew inside her, from somewhere deep within her that she'd forgotten how to feel with. And then he jumped. And her she felt that feeling burst through her, flowing through her so cool and refreshing, bringing with the sense of endless time and space. The wind gusted and flew him across the 33.3 meters, just as it flew her forgotten heart up from the darkness. In that instant, she felt free, as though she could spread her wings and simply soar through a never ending sky of blue. And then she saw it, the dim shadow of a King. But of course, all this only lasted for a few seconds, but it seemed like such a long time. As he came back to the ground, the feeling of flying and freedom came down with him, her heart seeming to plummet even further then it was before. But still, that feeling was still there.

"35.09!" they said.

Everyone cheered and hollered, running to congratulate the Crow on his win, even Agito went over. But not her. She watched from a distance as they celebrated, smiling as she watched.

"Better then you expected?" Aeon said as he moved to lean against the wall beside her.

"Maybe he does have potential as Sky King" she replied.

"Indeed, but will be get that far?" he looked at her now as he asked this, a slight gleam in his eyes.

"Watch where you stick that nose of yours Aeon Clock. You never know what you'll find lurking within the dark branches of the forest" she smiled dangerously as she walked over to let Sky celebrate with her team mates.

* * *

"Well? What do you think Aeon?" Yoshitsune said as he rode over to stand beside him.

They both watched as her hair curled into that innocent strawberry blonde, jumping on her friends as they all celebrated.

"I doubt she'll be any trouble" he said,

"not as long as she stays with them" he finished.

* * *

THERE. IT`S DONE.

TOOK ME HALF A LIFE TIME TO BE SATISFIED WITH HOW THIS CHAPTER WAS WRITTEN.

so anyways yea sorry for the long wait, i really just have not been interested in writing anything for the past month and a half ^_^`

oh and sorry for the lack of promised romance and what not ^_^' - been doin this a lot lately...

**CHAPTER SIX**

This is where the story FINALLY starts to build!

The epic battle scene!

The formal introduction of Ice our second OC from chapter 2!

Some unwilling secrets told?

Yet another trip to the hospital?

Some not so friendly rivalry?

Maybe a kiss?

And oh darn i forget the rest...guess you'll just have to read Chapter Six ;P


	7. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER SIX**

'_We're on the bus ride home…I wish we could've stayed longer…_'Sky thought as she stared at the ceiling.

It had been a tiresome day, and now she had to sit through the 6 hour car ride home…with no one to talk to. Phoenix had fallen asleep shortly after they'd boarded the bus, and everyone else seemed to have done the same after about an hour or so. And now, there was just her; tired as ever but unable to fall asleep. She sighed bored with no one to talk to, and nothing to do. She tried rearranging herself to try and get comfy, but that didn't seem to work. She tried facing the other way, and was confronted with an irresistible idea.

Slowly, she lifted up the arm rest on her chair, gently easing it back so that the small click it made as it locked was barely audible. The chairs were packed fairly close together, close enough for her to be able to sit on both. So she gently leaned forward just a bit, her hands automatically clutching onto his shirt gently as she slowly rested her head on the side of his chest, and tucked her legs underneath her. She closed her eyes and rubbed her head back and forth a few times as she became comfortable, finally feeling as though she could get some rest.

'_He smells good…_' she thought as she was finally able to fall asleep.

* * *

He woke up to snickers and muffled laughter, and then a sudden flash of light. He opened his eyes to see everyone crowding over his seat with either a cell phone or camera. "They're so cute~"

"I told you they were more than friends"

"So adorable together~"

"How sweet~" came the hushed voices of everyone crowding around them.

Before he was able to open his mouth and cuss them out, he felt something squirming against his chest, and when he looked down, he was met by what could be one of his worst nightmares. There was Sky, sleeping against him like he was her fucking pillow. His face began to glow red with anger.

* * *

She skipped off the bus, full of energy after a nice long nap. There were a lot of cars parked up and down the street as parents waited to pick up their kids. She looked around for their brother's car, and saw it just barely peeking around the corner at the end of the street.

"My brother's here you guys~! I'll see you later~!" she said waving as she skipped off, swinging her bags at her sides.

"Don't forget about practice!" Ikki shouted after her.

She turned but kept walking backwards "I'm going out with onii-sama tonight so I won't be able to go to practice sorry!" she said turning back around and continuing down the street. She could hear Ikki's dissatisfied grunts and groans from behind her as she skipped. It made her giggle a little, but she still felt a little guilty.

* * *

LATER THAT NIGHT

Practice seemed quieter without that blabbering blonde there. It was enjoyably…odd. She'd gotten rather close to the group, and had seemingly become quite close to Akito in particular. They would usually talk for a while during practice when he felt like taking a break. Even at school they would talk a lot during class, or at lunch or in the hallways. Though as close as she had grown to the group, that other bitch didn't seem to have any interest in them what so ever. He couldn't care less about that part, but he couldn't help but be slightly curious about the two. They were the only other people like Akito and himself they'd ever met… All these thoughts ran through his mind throughout practice, which was strange seeing as he didn't usually think about it for that long, but there was just something weird about tonight…

After practice, they were all headed home as usual, when suddenly, someone jumped off a rooftop on top of the hill, soaring over their heads and landing on the houses below. They didn't stop there; they continued riding at an impressive speed, jumping from roof top to roof top agilely. The rest of the team watched impressed as they rode, but not him. He recognized that rider, or more specifically, that icy blue hair. The same strange hair that that punk who attacked Phoenix had had. He stopped for just an instant before he made his split second decision.

* * *

The wind blew restlessly through her hair, blowing it up and around as though it could carry her away with it into the wind. The wind was stronger at this height, standing on top of a crane over a construction site. This had apparently been where Crow and the rest had first met Agito and Akito. She smiled imagining what a scene that must've been. The wind blew again, but more forcefully, more excited, more tense. She breathed in a long, deep breath, allowing the air to flow through her, easing her muscles, and preparing their body for the immense amount of stress that she was going to have to force upon it. As the wind blew strong once again, she allowed it to gently push her forward, pushing her off the edge of the crane, and back down to the ground below. He was close…she could feel his cold dark aura growing stronger and stronger as she fell.

She hit the ground almost soundlessly, crouched down bending her knees to absorb the shock, although her AT's absorbed most of it. She stood up cautiously, looking into the dark tunnel she knew he would be coming through. But when someone did finally emerge, it was the last person she could hope to see there.

"Agito?" she said as her body loosened just a bit.

"Were you expecting someone else?" he said looking around.

"What are you doing here?" she spat as she walking towards him.

"I could ask you the same question" he said glaring at her coldly.

"Who is it that attacked you that night?" he asked her seriously.

"This isn't the time or place to explain that to you" she said looking around.

When she felt it, his cold aura standing somewhere behind her.

"You need to leave _now_" she said pushing him back towards the tunnel, but it was too late.

"_I_ think he should stay and join in the fun" said a familiar voice from behind her.

She quickly turned to face the voice behind her.

"Ice" she said coldly.

"Long time no see beautiful" he smiled back.

"I've missed you _so_ much" he grinned walking towards them.

"You've been gone for so long, but it's time to come home now Ryuu" he said stopping just 20 feet away from them.

"What's going on?" Agito asked angrily confused.

She growled enraged by hearing that name.

"Confused Fang King?" Ice said addressing Agito now.

"Allow me to explain" he began.

"_NO!_" she screamed angrily, the wind gusting violently throughout the construction site.

"_He has nothing to do with this, so let him leave and then we can settle this_" she hissed, her entire body trembling with rage.

"You know just as well as I do that he has _everything_ to do with this" Ice said looking at her seriously now.

"_Let. Him. Go._" she said venomously.

"Why are you protecting him when it's his fault any of this even happened?" he yelled enraged.

There was silence.

"He is _our_ ticket to freedom Ryuu. Just step aside and I'll take care of everything" he said gently.

"I promise you'll never have to force your wings to fit into that cage ever again" he said soothingly.

She could feel Agito stiffening behind her. They all stood silently for a few seconds, as she came to her decision.

"I-I'm sorry" she said lowering her head as she turned to step aside.

She could feel his eyes on her, glaring at her hatefully. Maybe he would forgive her later… Ice's AT's howled anxiously, ready to devour their next meal.

'_Forgive me…_' she thought as time slowed all around her.

Ice sped forward fast enough to close the distance between him and Agito in the blink of an eye, but to her, it all happened slowly enough for her to see every single spec of dirt fly as he raced forward.

'_Forgive me for the horrible things…_' she took out her left contact as Ice was just a meter or so in front of Agito.

'T_hat I'm about to do…_' she finished, taking out her right contact.

* * *

He had just barely begun to register that "Ice" had moved, when he was suddenly thrown back against the ground by the force of impact. He sat up as quickly as he could to see what had happened. He should've been hit by that fuckers attack, but instead something had exploded right in front of him before his attack could reach him. The thick cloud of smoke and dust that had been created by the explosion made it impossible for him to see 2 feet in front of his face, but as it cleared, he could see what it was that had blocked that punks attack. She was standing right in front of him, but her back was turned so he couldn't see her face.

"Didn't think you'd hand him over so easily" the boy said getting up and whipping blood from his lips onto the back of his hand.

"You're only going to get in the way" she said softly to him, ignoring Ice's comment.

"So do me a favour and get as far away from here as possible" she finished.

"Fuck you. I can take care of-"

"_You_ won't be able to do _anything_ if you couldn't even stop his last attack!" she growled angrily, turning to face him.

He was unable to respond. Her eyes…her eyes had _changed_. When he'd seen her without her contacts on that one morning, they had been the same color blue as her contacts, but now…now they were a glowing blood red. But it was what was _in_ her eyes that caught him off guard the most; a golden ring with a star in it…a pentagram. She must've known what his silence was caused by, and quickly turned back around.

"Now _go_!" and as she shouted, he was forcefully pushed back down the tunnel by another immense gust of air.

"Fuck!" he cursed angrily as he stood up.

He turned away from the battle that began in the construction site, leaving her to deal with whatever kind of shit she got herself into. So she didn't need any help did she? Then fine. He had better things to do then helping that bitch. Like…sleeping, he could go catch up on his sleep.

'_You can't catch up on sleep Agito. You know that_' Akito said.

He growled as he took off faster, riding up a wall to get to the roof tops.

'_Agito we should go back_' Akito said worriedly.

'_We'd only get in the way remember?_' Agito said mocking her.

'_But Agito what if she gets hurt?_' he said more frantically.

He thought about that for a minute. The last time he'd seen her all beaten and bloodied by that Ice kid…he'd really been serious about killing her, and he almost had. But he had the upper hand because she hadn't had ATs last time. She had her ATs this time, so she could fend for herself…right?

'_I'm not helping that ungrateful bitch_' he said, pushing his thoughts aside.

They'd rode in silence for the 10 minutes as they went home, but as he reached the bend in the road he'd originally left everyone else, there was a sudden thunderous boom that came from behind him. As he turned back around to see what the fuck had happened, he saw that there had been a large explosion off in the distance, dark clouds of heavy smoke pouring into the sky. It looked large from here, but must've been even bigger from up close as it was a good 10 minute ride away… The construction site.

* * *

The blast caused her to fly backwards, but she was able to skid to a fiery stop. She didn't wait for the smoke to clear, she didn't need to. She could feel where he was, and that was all she needed. She jumped onto a nearby pipe, and onto a beam. Then she jumped, and as she'd expected, he flew up out of the smoke and they collided violently again in the air. This time she was thrown towards the wall, but she landed on it like she would on the ground, and pushed off to try and catch him off guard with her next attack. But he was ready. He shot up a thick pointed pillar of ice. Or it _looked_ like ice at least, his trade mark illusion. In truth, it was a razor sharp spike of air, very very _cold_ air. She couldn't avoid the spike, but she could somewhat avoid it piercing straight through her stomach. She rolled to the right just before it made contact, and it cut a deep gash in her left arm. She crashed into the ground, sliding across the ground on her side. It worked up quite a bit of dust, but only enough to silhouette his shape. Or rather it wasn't _his _shape she saw as such, but instead the shape of a giant wolf's; its eyes glowing an eerie ice blue amongst the clouds of dust.

'_He's going to finish this now…he's done playing with his food_' she thought.

'_But there's a way…just one way…one way to-_'

"It's no wonder he didn't give it to you" he said as she got up shakily.

She was losing a lot of blood because of that last hit, but what he was saying was enough to pull her up on its own.

"You wouldn't be able to use it because you're too _good_" he spat.

"No not even that. Because you're too _disgusting_. Look at all the things you've done. All the people you've hurt. Even Sky-"

"_SHUT UP!_" she screamed.

She'd snapped, no longer able to control herself anymore. She tore off her chains and opened her broken…her shattered road.

The force from her road opening caused a spiralling tornado of fire to erupt around her. It spun and swirled, quickly growing upwards, and beginning to take on its demonic shape.

* * *

He'd raced back full speed. Akito praying that they were safe the whole way. They reached the construction site, but the tunnel he'd exited through was completely blocked off by rubble and debris. He worked his way up, wall riding to reach the top of the surrounding wall of the unfinished building. As he reached the top however, he was almost blown back down by the force of the wind coming from within the site. The air was scolding hot, but even as he held his arms in front of his face, he was able to look between them to see.

It was…indescribable. The creature that slowly grew up from within, towering even over the crane. It was a _dragon_. A dragon made of fire, but it's eyes seemed to still glow bright yellow amongst the flames. As it spread its immense wings, something shot up from within it. And even from his distance, their voice could still be heard as loudly, and as clearly as it would've been if they'd said it right beside you.

"_Dragon's Fang_" they hissed, sounding sadistically pleased by the destruction they were about to cause.

As they spoke…as _she_ spoke, she brought her leg around from behind her and sent out what truly was a _fang_. And as she kicked, the demonic fiery dragon behind her flapped its wings as it audibly roared.

The fang alone tore down everything in its path, but combined with the fiery demon beating its wings and thrashing, it was enough to tear down the entire site. He was able to get out of the way, but just barely. He came to a pretty rough landing on top of a nearby business. Black smoke billowed out of the site as it crumbled down. Sirens could be heard as people began gathering in the streets to see what was going on.

He stared as the flames licked at the midnight sky, the black clouds of smoke churning upwards, staining the air with its putrid scent of burning metals.

'_Agito…_' Akito whispered shakily.

She wasn't…had she…were they…he didn't stand around to ponder any longer. He searched the entire area around the burning site for as long as he could before there was no possible chance left that they could still be… Akito began to weep uncontrollably now, but Agito refused to cry…no tears needed to be shed.

'_She must've known what she was doing, they might've gotten help already_' he said in an attempt to calm his now frantic brother. But a small, almost inaudible and concealed part of him knew…he was also trying to comfort himself.

* * *

_Drip…drip…splash…drip…crack…scrape…crunch…drip drip drip…_

Carrying her body felt as though she were trying to pull a lead weight with the strands of her hair. She could feel as each strange broke, feel as they were yanked form her body one by one, leaving what few remained to drag this heavy carcass for what felt like miles. The smallest steps became the longest strides. The easiest jumps became crushingly painful as her body was dragged back down. Carrying his unconscious body along with her own broken one was causing her immense pain. There were no stars in her eyes, just black spots that threatened to spread and completely block her vision.

'_Just a little bit longer…_' she thought,

'_Only a few more minutes until we reach home…_'

Phoenix was unconscious, locked deep within her cage of solitude. Alone. She jumped down from the last building onto the long stretch of road that would eventually branch off to her right…taking them alongside a long brick wall, and eventually to the gate where she would be home free. Her blood stained curls did not frolic as freely in the wind that passed through her hair; instead they clung together messily, flinging about droplets of blood as they were blown back. She clumsily rounded the corner, almost losing her balance and falling over as she carried Ice on her back. His body would be much worse than hers. His hair matted with blood, deep gashes in his skin, his clothes torn to shreds, and even his AT's dented and smashed. She finally made it to the gate, only a few more meters, up the stairs, through the door and then onii-sama will help us…

'_We'll fix you_' she thought, tears beginning to stream down her face,

'_We'll fix you because you're our special one_' she thought as she collapsed against the door.

She never heard it open, nor did she feel as she was pulled inside, she simply watched as light suddenly appeared, and then the world was filled with darkness…

* * *

"_Please don't go mommy" the small girl said. The woman smiled as she brushed the matted hair from the small girls face "Be a brave girl for mommy" she said, kissing her forehead. There was a smashing sound coming from the other room, and the woman quickly stood and turned to face the door. She swiftly stepped out of the closet, shutting the door behind her. There was another loud smashing sound, closer this time. The small girl huddled back into the corner of the dark closet, cuddling her teddy bear to her chest. "Don't be afraid mister teddy" she whispered into its ear "Mommy's gonna make the monster go away, and then she's gonna come back and take us away with daddy to a big place in the sky" she whispered. There was a loud bang as something was smashed apart; the door? Then the yelling started. Screaming and yelling and shouting and smashing and loud crashing sounds coming from the room. And then after one final loud thud, there was silence…then footsteps. They stopped once they were in front of the closet, 2 shadows visible underneath the door. The door opened slowly, revealing the fiery red monster. The monster was dripping with red as it reached for her. She cringed away, protecting her teddy from the scary monster. "No!" her mother screamed as she suddenly jumped on the monster, tackling her to the ground out of sight. "Mommy!" the little girl shrieked as she ran out of the closet to help mommy fight the monster._

_Splatter._

_She couldn't move. She couldn't even scream as she stared. As the body fell limp to the floor, the monster picked her up and carried her out of the room. The little girls face was wet, but not with tears…splattered with the monsters evil red paint…the red paint she'd taken from mommy…_

_The monster carried her backwards, so she watched from over her shoulder as all her things…all her toys…as her house lit up like a candle._

_Darkness ensued as the house slowly became the only thing in her vision, but it too slowly blurred and faded away, leaving only the darkness as her eye lids fell like heavy gates, shutting out the world as she was dragged into a hell where monsters reined._

* * *

finallyyy donneeee

hope you enjoyed that

not as promising at i'd hoped but it worked out okayyy

sorry for the lack of said 'kissing' but i decided to change things up a little and write it like this rather then how i'd initially intended tooooo...

**Chapter Seven!**

confusion, confusion, confusion.

with a big helping of bitch and jealousy

scarcely mentioned questions explained

and new introductions made

odd new feelings and awkward nudes

hold the _panties_ and add an extra helping of _sexy_

confused?

well so are they

the difference being you aren't naked

and as much as i hate to ask for it...a review or two about how this is going would be nice as i'm unsure of whether or not this is playing out very well ^_^'


	8. Chapter 7 part one

**CHAPTER SEVEN (PART ONE)**

"Hold still Ice!" she said as she struggled to finish the last stitch, she pulled it tight and snipped off the extra bit of string.

"There" she finished as he growled in pain.

She hadn't wanted to risk taking him to a hospital in the event that _she _found him, which she knew she would. Thankfully, this was something that had become second nature to her; stitching up wounds, cleaning out cuts and bandaging things up. It wasn't something she had learned of her own choice, as it had been the only choice there was back then. But she didn't let her mind drift over to thoughts of the past; they weren't going to help solve anything at the moment.

"If you keep thinking that hard then you're going to grow a tumour" he said as he watched her clean things up on the table at the foot of his bed.

She smiled "Get some rest Ice" and with that she finished putting things away, collecting the bag and turning to walk out of the room.

"How is she?" he asked.

She paused in the doorway, unable to move for a second, "Tonight" she said quietly, and with that, stepped out of the room, closing the door behind her.

'_I'm sorry_' were the only words that were exchanged between her and Phoenix on their quiet walk down the hall until they reached the stairwell.

"How is he?" Spitfire asked as he leaned against the railing of the top step.

"He'll be fine in about 2 weeks" she answered, staring down at the floor.

"Hm. In the mean time you should go get the kid some new clothes. I'm not letting him stay here if he has to wear mine" he smiled, putting his hand gently on her head and bending down so that they were face to face,

"Don't forget you're family too love" he said gently, giving her a small kiss on the nose,

"Now go get some rest" and with that, he took the tray of medical supplies from her and turned to go down the stairs.

'_Family…_' she thought as she watched him walking down the stairs, and then through the door and into the kitchen.

"Thank you onnii-sama" she whispered out loud, tears pooling up in her eyes,

"Thank you"

* * *

He felt…strange. Oddly empty for some reason, like a piece of his body had been torn off, though this was obviously a stupid thought as he clearly had all his limbs.

"Agito"

What was this feeling…he was sad…but at the same time he felt nothing. This made him feel confused, and his confusion and lack of understanding made him frustrated which made him angry. What was it? What was _missing_?

"Agito"

He hadn't misplaced anything, or at least not anything that could have made him this angry.

"Agito"

Fuck damn it what was this feeling?

"HEY DUMBASS!" the idiot yelled.

"WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE CALLING A DUMBASS YOU STUPID IDIOT?" he said as he gave the crow a nice one to the side of the head. He went flying across the room, though he quickly sat up, rubbing his head.

"YOUR RICE IS GETTING COLD AND I REFUSE TO WATCH YOU WASTE A PERFEFCTLY GOOD BOWL OF RICE!" Ikki yelled, jumping back to the table with his fist up, ready for a brawl.

He grunted and got up, walking out of the kitchen and going back up to his room.

"DON'T YOU WALK AWAY FROM ME YOU PUNK!" Ikki yelled behind him.

"…I'M EATING YOUR RICE!" he quickly added.

'_Idiot…_' he thought as he walked upstairs.

'_Agito?_' his lighter half said in a small timid voice.

He'd been so quiet all morning, huddled up in a corner of their mind.

'_Where are we going?_' he asked him.

'_To check something_' he answered simply.

* * *

How long had she been asleep…count…count…count…it was 12:00:26 pm. 2 hours, 13 minutes and 28 seconds; that was good enough for now, she needed to go check on Ice again soon anyways. She cracked open her eyes, sitting up as she rubbed the sleep out of the corners.

"Oh poo…" she grumbled as she looked down at her tank top, it seemed as though she'd been sweating quite a bit in her sleep.

She sighed getting out of bed to change into a fresh shirt. As she got undressed though, she caught a glimpse of herself in her standing mirror; her torso was covered in huge blue and purple bruises, as was the rest of her body. She gently ran her fingers over the bandages on her left arm. Ice's attack had torn a deep gash across their arm, worsened by their fall to the ground afterwards.

'You_ won't be able to do _anything_ if you couldn't even stop his last attack!_' she'd screamed.

And then he'd just stared. Stared at her like she was some kind of horrific creature. She bit her lip a little as she threw her shirt into the dirty laundry hamper.

* * *

He rang the doorbell, clasping his hands behind his back as he waited for someone to let him in. Were they okay? Were they even here? What if they hadn't…

'_Akito_'

'_Do you think maybe…he'll be like them?_' he asked, quickly making up conversation.

'_Guess we'll find out soon enough_' Agito replied after a short pause as the door clicked, beginning to open.

"Ah, I was wondering whether or not you'd turn up" smiled the fiery haired man, extending his hand.

He could only stare at first, before regaining his disposition and shaking the man's hand.

"I'm fairly sure introductions aren't needed" he said as he turned to lead him into the house,

"You can leave your AT's by the door" he smiled as he closed the huge doors behind him.

This man…was their brother? The _Flame King_ was their brother? Strange that Sky had never mentioned _that_ of all things…

'_They must've had a reason_' Akito said,

'_Maybe they were embarrassed?_' he continued, though it was obvious that Agito didn't have quite the same opinion.

'_I doubt it_' he said, following the man up the huge front stairs.

"I hope Phoenix hasn't been too hard on the two of you" Spitfire smiled, though he continued to look straight ahead.

"Well she hasn't really opened up to us very much, but she does seem like a really nice person~" he said, ignoring the sounds of distaste that came from his brother upon hearing his response.

"I can't say I'm not surprised" he sighed, though he kept his smile.

They chatted for the next minute or so walk down the long hallway, until he stopped in front of a set of doors.

"I'm fairly sure she's still asleep" he smiled, opening the doors.

Although they were only open long enough for either of them to get a small glance, it was more than enough. The friendly air was quickly replaced with a heavy sadness, only increased by the pained look on Spitfire's face.

"I'll be just a sec!" she said through the door.

They were both silent, looking off in different directions as they took in all the bruises and bandages they'd just seen.

"Keep an eye on her will you?" he said before he began walking back down the hall, not waiting to hear his response.

The sound of the door opening quickly swept him up out of thought.

"I was just about to check on I-" she began, but quickly stopped when she realized it was him standing in front of her.

"A-Akito, what are you doing here?" she stammered.

"Me and Agito wanted to make sure that you were okay" he smiled.

"Really?" she asked, sounding surprised.

"Of course~! We're best friends remember?" he chuckled.

"Thank you Akito" she smiled, and then he noticed; her eyes weren't blue.

Those sky blue eyes she always had were now a dull greenish grey, but they weren't as flat as when they were blue, probably because the blue was just contacts. Instead, her eyes looked more like a swirling pool, a very deep pool, as though you could simply stare into them for miles.

She always seemed to know when he was thinking about her eyes, because she quickly averted them and began heading down the hallway.

"I have to go get somethi-" she began but was cut off when she bumped into Spitfire.

"Thought you might want to check up on him again" he smiled, handing her what looked like some kind of medical bag.

"Thanks onii-sama" she said before turning back around and heading towards another set of doors further down the hallway.

"I'm sorry about yesterday" she said quietly, still without looking at him.

"That's okay" he smiled at her,

"Agito would never admit it, but he was really worried about you guys" he continued, ignoring Agito's angry grumbles,

"We're here to help you whenever you need us" he finished.

She seemed to clutch onto the medical bag even tighter now, her face turning grim.

"So who's all this for?" he asked, trying to change the subject.

"Ah…about that…" she said as she stopped in front of the doors.

"I didn't want to take him to the hospital…and he doesn't have anywhere else to go…so he'll be staying here from now on…" she said almost unwillingly.

"Who?" he asked as she opened the door.

'_You_' Agito growled while he himself simply stared at the blue haired boy who lay in the bed.

"_You_" Ice growled angrily as he glared at them.

"Ow!" he suddenly yelled when a roll of gauze suddenly hit him over the head.

"Don't be a dumb ass" Phoenix suddenly said.

He looked over startled by her sudden appearance as she walked over to the boys bedside.

"You shouldn't beat the injured" the boy said as he gave her an odd look.

"Can it" she snapped, removing the blankets to expose his heavily bruised and bandaged body.

Discouraged, the boy began examining him with a distasteful look,

"You still into playing dress up with mommy and daddy?" he mocked when he finally looked up at his face.

Seeing as he was wearing skinny jeans and a t-shirt, he assumed he was talking about his eye patch. Agito began roaring with immense anger, already heated enough after being in the room with this guy.

"He has a second person" Phoenix said, somehow cutting the tension.

This shut the boy up immediately, as he turned to look out the window. And then everything became oddly serene between the two of them, when he began speaking English.

"Tonight?" he asked her.

"Tonight" she said calmly, a peaceful look on her face.

"Then I hope that shark shit is as good as his reputation makes him out to be" he said angrily.

Akito had never told them that he and Agito understood English, and could even speak it themselves, which is why he assumed they had spoken it rather than Japanese. But as he opened his mouth to say something, she spoke

"He's an amazing rider" she said with that same look on her face, but an awed tone to her voice.

For just a second, Ice looked at her with a sort of pain in his eyes, but it quickly turned into a glare, ending when he looked back at the window.

"That should do it" she finally said in Japanese as she finished tying his last bandage.

"Sky will check on you later tonight" she said, putting everything back in the medical bag before they both left the room.

Agito was deeply thinking over the conversation they'd just heard between the two, and could only come to a conclusion that would require a little more looking into.

"Akito" she said, breaking their train of thought,

"Would you like something to eat?"

"Ah-" he began, but was cut off when his stomach growled loudly.

"Yes please" he smiled embarrassed, Agito had left before they'd eaten breakfast so by now they were pretty hungry.

"Do you remember where the kitchen is?" she asked as they began walking.

"Of course" he smiled.

"There's Boss Coffee in the fridge if Agito wants some, and there should still be some rice on the stove. I'll be there in a second" and with that, she turned into her room, and closed the door behind her, leaving him to walk alone down to the kitchen.

* * *

She fell against the door, dropping the medical bag on the floor when her right arm fell limp at her side as it no longer responded to her.

'_Phoen-'_

"No! I can do this!" she growled not out of anger, but out of the concentration she was putting into regaining control of their body. She slowly lifted her hand up in front of her face, bending her fingers to make sure she could still move them.

"See?" she said, moving off the door.

She pulled on her black skirt, buttoned up her white shirt, and did up her long red tie. Lastly, she grabbed their bunnybear bag with her AT and left their room. She hadn't been lying when she'd said he was an amazing rider, but she needed to see just _how_ amazing he was. What was his full potential?

* * *

Agito finished off their bowl of rice, and quickly drank what was left of his Boss Coffee; he had no interest in casually sitting about eating with this bitch. He'd waited patiently for long enough, and after last night, he sure as hell wasn't waiting any longer for the answers he wanted.

"I'm assuming you're done?" she said suddenly standing in the fridge, digging about for something.

He simply glared at her; the fuck was she up to now?

"Good" she said, standing up as she closed the fridge door with water bottles in hand,

"Then let's go"

"Where exactly are we going?" he asked as they sped through the city, she was going surprisingly fast considering how beat up she looked.

"You'll see" she said.

Fuck.

He wasn't in the mood for any of her games; he just wanted some fucking answers!

She suddenly made a sharp turn, jumping out of sight onto another building. He quickly followed suite, but in the brief moment that she was out of his view, she disappeared. He looked around the roof top of the building for only a few seconds before he sped out of the way. Where he stood became a crumbled pile of brick that fell off the buildings edge, and stirred up a small cloud of dust at her feet.

"Very good. Better than last time" Phoenix smirked.

As the smoke cleared, it revealed those same sharp fiery AT's that climbed up her legs. He growled about to cuss at her, but she started speaking again.

"By now you've probably got a lot of questions to ask" she reached up and began removing something from her face as she spoke,

"But you see, there's also a lot that I would like to know about you" she dropped something small and clear by her feet, but that's not what he was focused on.

'_Her eyes!_' Akito said surprised.

They had turned into that same crimson red, seeming endless in depth as though they held an entire ocean of blood. But there was no strange symbol in her eyes this time, instead just a look of blood lust and a terrible grin to go with it.

"If you can prove to me that you _deserve_ to know, then I'll willingly answer anything you have to ask" she grinned.

"And if I lose?" he spat.

It wasn't that he thought he was going to lose, but after what he witnessed last night… She didn't answer, instead she chuckled sadistically before spinning as she sped towards him.

And then it began.

They raced through the city, attacking and rebounding off one another as they went. She was laughing manically as they fought, but rather than fighting back she was only blocking his attacks and running away from him.

"C'mon and fight me you fucker!" he yelled in frustration.

This time he managed to get her.

Hard.

She went flying down towards an empty road, however as he landed and rode on the metal fence beside it, he watched as she gracefully spun and swirled through the air. It hardly looked like she was falling and more like she was gliding. Then something seemed…strange. The way she turned in the air, the way she summersaulted and spun, and then as she hit the ground, he realized what it was she'd done. As she made contact with the ground, sparks began to fly, and as she continued to spin, flames erupted across the ground where she rode.

'_Her brother is the Flame King Agito…_' Akito said as he watched her go.

She had obviously followed in her brothers footsteps. He grinned as things seemed as though they just might turn out more interesting than he'd thought.

* * *

The hot flames whipped around her, it's scorched and devastating touch licking the ground in what appeared to be a gentle caress, but was truly a vicious kiss of destruction. She loved this dance. She hated this dance. She could feel the freedom of the wind blowing through her hair. She could feel the chains gripping tighter and tighter. She could hear the sweet call of the sky as it drew her in. She could hear the agonized cry of the creature that awaited her at the end of their ride. She jumped onto one of the small pathways going over top of a canal, quickly jumping again as she dodged his attack. She was weaker than she'd originally thought which made attacking pointless as it would be a weak and pathetic blow. All she could do was run. So she did.

No. No she had to fight. She had to know, she had to be sure that he could handle what it was she needed to ask of him. She dodged as many of his attacks as she could, blocking the ones she couldn't evade. Before she knew it they had reached an enormous bridge that went over a huge river.

"You've got no choice but to fight me up here, there's nowhere left for you to run!" he laughed as he kicked out at her.

She ducked, spinning as she held out her leg in an attempt to trip him, but she hadn't been quick enough. He jumped over her, getting behind her where she couldn't see or block him. But as she spun around to face him, it happened. Before he could even strike her, her body stopped responding to her. Not just her arm going slack this time, but her entire body. Her vision blurred as she felt the world start to whirl out of control. She was falling. The bridge was high, but not high enough to let her fall like this forever. She hit the water in just a few seconds, feeling its cold squeeze as it encased her body. Though the sun was still in the sky, the world began to darken around her.

'_I'm sorry_' she whispered breathlessly even in their mind as she fell into the darkness.

* * *

He jumped over her head as she swung at his leg. Yes, he'd won this fight, and he was going to carve a sweet reminder of it into her body so she would forever remember his victory. But as she turned to face him, and as he just began to strike, her face caught him off guard. Those once blood thirsty crimson eyes were now golden, wide, and full of pain and fear. And for that moment, that they had made eye contact, he was unable to move a single muscle. He'd looked into the eyes of many of his victims, all had been full of pure terror as he'd struck them down. But these eyes? These eyes weren't afraid of him, they were simply full of a fear of something that they could hardly bare to think about. And then she was falling. All in slow motion as he watched her limp body fall off the thick metal support wire of the bridge.

'_SAVE HER!_' Akito then yelled, not asking in his usual polite voice, but instead commanding him furiously to do so. He flew off the bridge without a second's hesitation.

Wet, and cold, he dragged her and himself out of the river. He lay her down on the river bank as he collapsed on the ground. He looked over at her limp body, drenched, and motionless...

* * *

**A special thanks to "shoujok" for their review which made me remember that I had a fanfiction account...**

VIVA LA BROKEN PROMISESSS xD

so there was a definite lack of anything that I'd promised I'm pretty sure...

BUT THERE'S A REASON FOR THIS!

i try to make each chapter about 10 pages long when i write it in word, and this one was already at 11 when I finally got to "that" part...

SO!

i decided to cut it here and do it in 2 parts xD

sooooo i guess in return i should put up part two sometime later todayyy...

AND CONSIDERING I'VE ALREADY WRITTEN PART OF IT, I CAN GUARANTEE THE FOLLOWING TO BE INCLUDED

**Chapter Seven (Part Two!)**

CPR!

Death!

Touching Moments!

Aaannddd I guess I'll give you a huge spoiler and tell ya there's gonna be...

**A KISS**

BUM BUM BUUUUUUUUUUUHHHHHH

hope you enjoyed this ;D


	9. Chapter 7 part two

__**CHAPTER SEVEN (PART TWO)**

_Bubbles. A light hum. What was that humming? Why couldn't she see? Why could she hear the bubbles? As frustration began to set in, she noticed that it wasn't that she couldn't see, she simply had her eyes closed. It took her a moment to remember how, but she was able to open them._

_Why…why had she opened her eyes…_

* * *

Shit.

Shit shit shit shit SHIT.

She was unconscious and her pulse weak, but she wasn't breathing. What the fuck kind of idiot does she think she is? Not breathing…she was going to owe him A LOT after this.

'_Hurry up Agito! We don't have much time!_' Akito flustererd.

He growled as he audibly swallowed his pride and prepared himself. He knew how to do CPR, it wasn't that difficult.

Before his mind could panic any further, he refocused himself, remembering that this idiot was the one who decided to stop breathing, not him. This was her fault, and he would finish kicking her ass as soon as she was awake.

He closed his eyes as he once again forced down his pride, pushing up her chin as he got ready to do what he had to. Slowly, he bent his head down, angling his head right and closing his eyes. Closer, closer closer…touch…just as his mouth was about to touch hers, something touched his chest, stopping him from moving any closer.

He opened his eyes to see what it was that had stopped him, but was stopped yet again. A pair of deep blue eyes was swallowing his own as he found himself unable to move.

"_Agito…"_ she whispered as her hand tightened on his shirt, pulling him closer.

What was she-? Why wasn't he _stopping_ her? Did he _want_ her to do that? He closed his eyes as they grew closer, their lips brushing ever so lightly they were so close, and the

"_You're a dumbass_" she said, her lips closing over his bottom one for an instant as she spoke, and before he could physically react to what she'd said, it was already over.

'_How could she have moved that fast?_' he thought as he collapsed onto his side with his hands between his legs.

"You…you bitch…" he said through his teeth.

"I gotta say, I thought you were different from those other pigs Agito" she said disapprovingly as she got up,

"Guess I was wrong" she finished as she stood and began squeezing the water out of her hair.

"But if it makes you feel any better" she began as she crouched down in front of him,

"Your definitely bigger than the others" she smiled as she ruffled his hair.

"Fuck!" he grumbled into the pavement.

'_I'm the pig? __**I'm**__ the pig?_' he vented angrily.

"But perverted tendencies aside" she began as she pulled her hand away from his hair,

"You've passed" she said as she stood and began to walk away.

"Think carefully about what it is you want to ask me, once you've done that feel free to come by my house later tonight" and with that, she disappeared.

"Fuck"

* * *

'_But what if it happens __**before**__ than Phoenix?_' Sky urged.

'_There's no reason to talk about that Sky, it won't happen before then, and even if it did it would just mean that you'd have to answer his questions_'

'_But Phoenix I-_'

'_Everything's going to be alright Sky, you just worry too much_' she laughed lightly.

Sky seemed to accept that answer, and they rode home the rest of the way in silence. Almost.

'_So…Agitos a pretty good rider eh?_'

'…_yes?_'

'_And him and Akito are pretty nice guys too…_'

'_Sky where are you going with this?_'

'_Well I was just thinking about how you'd been so excited to get put in the same class as the upcoming Sky King __**and**__ the Fang King…_'

'_So?_'

'_Well originally you'd wanted to challenge Agito for his Regalia, but now you've chosen to leave me with him. So I thought that since you trust him and think he's such a great rider than why not ask him to come practicing with you?_'

'_Sky I can't-_'

'_You enjoyed practicing with him today didn't you?_'

'_Well yes I mean I-_'

'_Then it's settled! From now on you'll practice with Agito!_'

Once she had her little heart set on something, she was willing to fight until her last breath to obtain it. So, she just sighed and nodded in agreeance, accepting that after she got back, things were going to be different…

* * *

Surprisingly he did need to think over exactly what it was that he wanted to ask her. So much had happened since that bitch showed up that there were almost too many questions to think about. Okay, think, go right back to the beginning. Why didn't she want anyone knowing that they shared a body? If she so desperately wanted that, then why had she openly changed during their Behemoth battle? How was she related to the Flame King? Why had she come here? Who was that Ice guy? But all of it could easily be summed up with just one question; What was going on?

He arrived at her house around 9 that night, as the stars just began to come out. He rang the doorbell, only waiting a few seconds for an answer.

"Nice of you to finally showed up baby shark" she grinned as she opened the door for him to come in.

"Tch" he said as he walked in, still taken back by the immense size of the inside of the mansion.

"You can leave your AT by the door Agito, nobody's going to touch them here" she said as she began towards the large set of stairs.

He surprisingly…trusted her words, so he left his AT beside the, not seeing why there _would be_ anyone who would want to touch his AT all the way out here.

They were a good 15-20 minutes out of the city here, and there were only 3 other people in the house (which was odd as he'd assume they'd have some kind of maid service to clean this huge ass place…). He followed her up the stairs and down a long hallway, and then another, until they finally came to a large, long set of drapes. He looked at them questioningly, until he realized that they were actually curtains as she reached between the two and pulled open a set of large glass doors. Behind the doors was a large round balcony that stretched out towards the immense back property. She walked out to the very end of the balcony and sat down on one of the small benches against the railing. When he didn't follow, she patted the spot beside her, gesturing for him to come sit next to her. He closed his eyes, annoyed, and sat a meter or so away from her on the bench, crossing his legs and leaning comfortably against the railing.

"The stars here are just as beautiful as in America" she said dazedly gazing up at the sky.

"If they're so similar than why come all the way to Japan?" he glanced at her, watching for her reply.

"I got…tired of living in America, and my brother was more than willing to take me in, so I decided to come live here with him" she said still gazing up at the sky.

"And your parents just let you leave?" he found that hard to believe.

"I wasn't living with my parents"

He didn't bother pursuing the topic any further, as he could understand where it was she was coming from…

"How is it Yoshitsune knew who you were?" this was the beginning of what was really important; Trident was a huge, and very powerful team, so why would Yoshitsune be worried about one girl participating in the Devil's 33?

"Aeon Clock is a nosy perverted old fuck" she growled, the look on her face leading him to believe that she was envisioning doing less than pleasant things to Sano.

He smirked at that "Even still, why would you be of any threat to them?"

"How about a different question" her voice sounded casual, but underneath that was a very angry warning.

Guess he'd just have to pry into that himself later on…

"Fine. Who the fuck is that bastard you're letting stay here with you"

She began laughing until she looked over at him and realized he was being serious. Recomposed, she answered,

"He was a friend of mine back in America, but one thing led to another and we ended up going our separate ways" she said.

"Oh? He certainly still seems to have a lot of interest in you. He flew all the way here from America just to call you beautiful and then try to kill you" he glared.

For some reason remembering how often he'd heard him calling her beautiful irritated him, and how he'd seen him looking at her as if she were food only irritated him further…and apparently it irritated her as well...

"Well as you've noticed he's a persistent little pervert" yet again he found her facial expression to give him the impression that she was committing horrible felonies in her mind.

He couldn't help smirking a little; she was a bitch, a huge **HUGE** annoying, pestersome, arrogant, idiotic bitch, but at the same time he couldn't help feel as though he didn't really hate her as much as he said he did…

"Then again you're pretty pervy too, trying to make a move while you think I'm unconscious" she smirked as she slid closer to poke him accusingly.

"I was not trying to make a move you ungrateful bitch!"

"Pft! If I hadn't woken up, you would've been all over me you perverted fish!"

"YOU FUCKING BITCH I SAVED YOUR LIFE!" She didn't reply to that, instead she just pursed her lips stubbornly and looked away.

"Thank you" she said quietly after a few moments of silence.

"Tch, don't thank me, thank Akito. If it had been up to me I would've let you drown" he said coldly, closing his eyes as he relaxed against the railing again.

She moved faster than he could react "H-hey! The fuck do you think you're doing?" he yelled as she suddenly threw herself against him, clinging to his shirt with her head buried in his shoulder.

"Agito" her voice was shaky.

"Do you know what it's like to fade away?" she said as her body began to tremble along with her voice.

He froze, unable to force her off of him "Why?" he asked as he looked down at her confused; here was someone he'd witnessed burn down an entire construction site, beat him over the head, fly through the city, and somehow survive being attacked by someone with AT's, and now here she was trembling and shaking against him. They weren't even friends, in fact he hated her guts, yet he couldn't muster up the strength to push her pathetic ass off of him.

"Please Agito" she slowly moved her head up to look at him, and as she did he could see that her eyes were a dull flat grey, and watering,

"Please take care of her while I'm gone" and with that her eye lids fell like heavy iron gates, and her body went limp against him.

He stared. All he could do was stare at the girls limp body. She wasn't breathing, and when he lifted her face up, it was pale. Her hair started to curl, the red slowly fading away to a strawberry blonde before his eyes. He watched motionlessly as the girl slowly opened her eyes to look up into his.

"_Agito_" she said shakily as her eyes started to well up with tears.

"_Agito!_" she yelled as she clung against him sobbing.

Gone. Just like that, the fiery red haired girl who he'd only started getting to know, was gone.

* * *

aaaaaahhh see? that was totally an almost kiss

so yea

air gears final chapter came out today

might have cried a little when i found out that was the end of the whole story

might have been a huge baby about it

so

yea

yea...

ANYWAYSSS

Chapta 8 should exist in yet another gawd knows how many months

full of some fun bonding between Ice and the wee shark

as well as some fun times for blondey and mista akito

fun stuff guys

fun

stuff

kbyehopeyouenjoythisshit


	10. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER EIGHT**

Before he could even take in what had just happened, his body was no longer in his control as he was suddenly forced back within the confines of their mind, Akito assuming control of their body. He tore Sky out of their lap and into an abrasive hug, his own eyes beginning to well up with tears. Agito sat down against the bars of his cage, staring blankly at the darkness within their mind. Had she just…had she just…

"I'm so sorry Sky, I'm so sorry" he said shakily, what else was there he could say? What _could_ you say? Phoenix had just…

"I'm sorry" Sky suddenly whimpered "I just…I can't stop myself from crying when this happens"

When this…happens? He didn't understand… Sky sat up as she began to wipe her eyes,

"I'm really sorry about all this, but I guess I should explain more than anything else" she began "Phoenix is…gone" Akito felt his body tense up even further as she said that.

"But she's still in here" she said as she gently touched her head "It happens every couples months, or when she overexerts herself like she did last night, she just…falls asleep"

"What do you mean?" he was finally able to get out.

"It's kind of like falling into a coma" she sniffled as she wiped the remaining tears from her face "And when that happens it's like a door shuts between us, and I can't feel or hear her anymore"

"But is she's going to be alright?" he asked.

"She's always come back, it just takes a week or so…"

He just stared. This was…normal? No that was impossible, neither him nor Agito ever just fell into a coma for a week. This couldn't be good for Phoenix or Sky.

"Does this ever happen to you?" he asked her hesitantly.

She shook her head side to side. Thank _heavens_, it was bad enough that it happened to one of them, let alone both of them… Sky stood up looking up off into the distance

"I should go tell Ice" she said as she began walking towards the doors.

"Wait" he said as he grabbed her wrist, stopping her from going any further "Phoenix said that she wanted us to look after you while she was gone…"

Her body tensed "I know she might seem kinda heartless at times, but she really is a big over protective suck once you get to know her" she smiled reassuringly "I'll be fine Akito, but I need to go tell Ice that she's- about what happened" she pulled her wrist out of his grip, and began walking back to the house.

What was going on? Why was this happening? And how could this be normal? He admitted that he hadn't really known Phoenix all that well considering she didn't seem to like them all that much, but he couldn't help being upset about it.

"C'mon" Sky gestured back to him from the doorway "If you'd like I can finish answering any questions Agito might still have on the way to Ice's room" she smiled again.

How could she be smiling at a time like this? But if this was really normal then I guess she's just used to it…

"Forget about it" he said as he walked over to her "You guys don't have to explain anything to us until you're ready, okay?" he managed a small smile this time.

"Thank you" she said as she suddenly gave him a tight hug. He smiled as he gently returned the hug, she was probably beyond sore after everything that had happened recently.

She would never get used to how quiet it became once Phoenix had left. No matter how many times it happened she could never really stop the initial shock at just how empty her mind was without her there with her.

"Is Phoenix really going to be okay?" he suddenly asked, cutting off her train of thought.

"She's always come back, she's just really out of it at first" a small giggle escaping.

"Well now that I think about it she gets _really_ out of it when she first comes back" she giggled some more.

"So um anyways Akito, I guess it's getting pretty late, you should probably be going home now I guess" They were standing at the start of the hallway that led to Ice's room.

"Oh yea I guess you're right" he seemed a little surprised to remember how late it already was

"I guess me and Agito should get going…"

"Yea I guess so…" she said as they headed towards the stairs.

"Are you sure you're gonna be alright?" Akito said as he stood just outside the door.

"I'll be fine Akito. Please try not to worry about me, I really can take care of myself" she smiled.

"Okay…well I'll see you tomorrow then I guess"

"Mhm! Goodnight Akito. Thank you" and with that she closed the door.

Agito was silent the entire ride home, as was Akito. What was there to say really?

'_I hope Sky really is okay…_'

* * *

He shut his eyes and sighed deeply.

"To be completely honest, I knew what that battle would do to her, but I just figured it would make it easier to bring you guys back. Then again I also thought she'd go easy on me…" they both laughed a little at that.

"You really are a bit of an idiot aren't you Ice?" she giggled.

"Ha, you're one to talk, look at that little bastard you've befriended"

She stopped laughing. Was…was befriending him really a mistake?

"Hey" he said, pulling her out of her thoughts and lifting her chin up to look at him "How many times do I have to tell you that you look a lot cuter when you're smiling Rose?" he smiled.

She smiled and brushed his hand away "You're such a creep Ice"

"Aw c'mon, give a guy a little credit" he smirked.

She crossed her arms on his bedside and used them as a pillow as she laid down her head.

"So…what happens next?" she said, staring into his eyes.

He looked away.

"Natsumi gave me 2 months to find and bring you guys back before she came to get you herself" he said.

No, no, no, no, _no_! No she _couldn't_ come to Japan! She _couldn't_…

"Why did she let you come here by yourself? Wasn't she worried that you'd run too?" she looked at him desperately not, was Natsumi planning something? Or worse…was she already here? Ice was staring off into a far corner of the room, it had been silent too long now.

"Natsumi…Natsumi told me what Ryuu did Rose…"

She froze. No, no he wasn't supposed to know about that, he was _never_ supposed to know about that.

"And to be honest" he said as he clenched his fists "I was so angry that I hopped on the next plane to Tokyo. I wasn't coming just because Natsumi wanted me to bring you back, but because I wanted…I wanted to just-" he stopped before he got himself too worked up, relaxing his hands.

"But then when I saw her trying to protect that little shit, and just how serious she was about not coming back, it made me realize" he finally turned back to look at her now "I was going to do the same to her, as she had to me. Ryuu hadn't even known who I was at the time, she was just doing what she had to, she didn't have a choice, but I do"

She was at a loss for words, he knew what they'd done and now had the opportunity to get revenge for it, yet he…he forgave them.

"Once my injuries are healed I'll-"

"You'll stay here" she smiled "If you go back she'll kill you Ice, but if you stay here with us, we have a chance. We can start over" she squeezed his hand as she searched his face; he had to say yes, she wasn't going to let him go back.

"But Sky I can't-" she put her finger over his lips so he couldn't finish.

"Yes you can, and you will Ice. Besides, Ryuu would never forgive you if you left without saying goodbye" she smiled as she moved to half hug him on the bed. He wrapped his arms around her too, rests his face on the top of her head.

"You know I still love you Sky, no matter what" he said.

She smiled as she pulled out of their embrace, moving to kiss his forehead.

"Get some sleep" she said as she began towards the door.

She opened the door but stopped in the doorway "I love you too" and with that, she left the room and closed the door.

* * *

A tad uneventful, and fairly short, but this seemed like a good place to end it for now :3

Aaaaand WOW I should really go back and get rid of the whole "What's to come" from the last chapter

Caaause none of that happened

Like  
Not even clooooooooose

I just wanted this one to be kinda short cause the next one will have to be much longer :(  
ANYWAYS

I suppose the next chapter should have plenty of Ice

Maybe I'll finally include all the other characters that I've been neglecting to incorporate...sue me

So yea

Fun shit

Enjoy


	11. Chapter 9

_**IMPORTANT! PLEASE**_** READ!****:** Towards the end of the chapter I've put the names of who's perspective it's from so that it' not so confusing when it goes back and forth!

**CHAPTER NINE**

"Ahhh~" Sky said as she eased back onto her bed, snuggling with her teddy. It didn't take long for sleep to come, and the sweet dreams it brought with it were just what she needed after all that had been happening lately. Though of course, her peaceful world of happiness and dreams didn't last long…

'_GOTTA PEE. GOTTA PEE. GOTTA PEE. GOTTA PEEEE!_'

SLAM!

…

…...

…...

…...

…...

"Well that was close" she sighed as she walked back out of the bathroom.

'_It's been a couple hours, I should probably check up on Ice before I head back to bed…_' she thought as she headed over to his room. She knocked lightly as she opened the door "Ice?" but as she looked into the room, he was fast asleep.

'_He looks so peaceful_' she said as she observed his features. He had such nice long dark lashes, and his short, spikey, light blue hair was a mess. She smiled as she closed the door, he was just fine.

_*Ding-Dong*_

"Hm?" the doorbell? They didn't usually have any visitors, what with them living a good distance out of the city… She moved as quickly as she could, but her body was so worn out after the past few days that she probably wouldn't have been able to run if she'd wanted. As she reached the bottom of the stairs the doorbell rang again, and again and again…and again. It turned into a continuous ding rather than a ding-dong kinda sound. She quickly unlocked and opened the door to-

"SURPRIIIIIIIISE!" they all yelled at once.

"W-w-what?" she managed to stutter through her surprise.

"Akito told us that you and Phoenix got hurt pretty bad after your fight, so we all came to visit you" Emily said as she moved to the front of the group.

"We wanted to make sure you were alright" Ringo smiled.

"You guys…came to see me?"

"Yea!" they all smiled and nodded at her.

"You're damn right we did! So are you gonna let us in or what?" Ikki said as he ruffled her hair.

"Ah! Aha yea please come in!" she laughed as she opened the door further and stepped aside for them to enter. Emily, Ringo, Nakayama, Buccha, Onigiri, Kazu, Ikki, and Agito; they all came to see her. She felt her eyes prickle a little as she looked at them all. They ooed and awed as they looked around.

"Holy crap your house is freaking huge Sky!" Onigiri said as he and Ikki both starred around the large front room. She didn't really hear much of what everyone was saying because she was just so overwhelmed with the fact that they were even there.

'_They all came to see us Phoenix_' she said as her eyes started to prickle again,

'_All of our friends came to see us_'

"The fuck's with the tears?" Agito said from beside her.

"Everyone came to see us" she whimpered as she felt her eyes well up with tears.

"Of course we did" Ringo said as she came over to comfort her, the other girls following suit. After a few moments and some reassuring words, she managed to calm herself down.

"So" Ikki said as he stepped in front of her, placing a hand on her head,

"WHEN THE HELL WERE YOU GONNA TELL US YOU LIVED IN A FREAKING MANSION?! I MEAN C'MON SKY CAN YOU IMAGINE THE KINDS OF CRAZY PARTIES WE COULD THROW HERE?!" he yelled. Ringo and Emily simultaneously punched him in the face, sending him flying across the room.

"Just ignore the Crow, he was actually pretty worried about you guys" Buccha said from beside her, and then he leaned down and whispered in her ear,

"I think it's cause you remind him of Agito and Akito so much, he feels like he's gotta lookout for ya" he smiled. She felt her face heat up a little as she laughed.

* * *

'_See Agito? I told you this would be a good idea! Look how happy she is_' Akito beamed from the confines of their mind. Agito just smirked as he folded his hands behind his head and watched as everyone crowded around the bubbly blonde. Alright so maybe there was just the tinniest resemblance between her and Akito, so _maybe_ he could tolerate her. But that other bitch was a whole different story… He was gonna fuck her up as soon as she got back. She must've known what was gonna happen, she'd just planned it so that she could avoid answering my fucking questions that fucking- his thoughts were cut short when someone suddenly threw themselves at him, wrapping their arms around his torso.

"Thank you Agito-sama~" Sky said as she rubbed her face against his chest.

"Hey cut that out! Get the fuck off me!" he growled. She pulled away before he could try and shove her off, but grabbed his hand and started dragging him towards the kitchen.

"Damn it let go of me!" he yelled as he was pulled along like a dog on a leash.

"Rrrrrr-HEY!" he looked back and realized that everyone was snickering and giggling as they followed behind them.

"WHAT ARE YOU FUCKERS SNICKERING ABOUT?!"

"Oh nothing" they all waved and smiled innocently.

* * *

Lunch was great. Her and her friends all made sandwiches and lemonade together, which of course led to the kitchen becoming a huge mess, so they decided to eat outside. She'd grabbed a big blanket from one of the closets upstairs to lay down in the grass for them, kinda like a picnic.

'_We're so lucky Phoenix_' she thought as she looked around her circle of friends,

'_We're so lucky to have such great friends_'

"So who was it you guys got into a fight with anyways?" Kazu said, cutting off her train of thought.

"Oh! Um, well-"

"Did you win?!" Onigiri suddenly cut in.

"Well I wouldn't really say-"

"Sky if you need me to rough someone up for you just say the words and I'll kick his ass!" Ikki growled as he displayed his 'oh-so-muscular-arms'.

"N-no! Nobody needs to be roughed up!" she waved her hands frantically, but they continue to go on and on until-

"ALRIGHT SO WHO WANTS DESSERT?" she yelled over them. They alled stopped and blinked for a second.

"Sounds good to me!" Ikki said giving her a thumbs up.

"Sure!" Buccha said, the others piping in as well, the other girls adding a sigh of relief.

"Okay well there's chocolate and strawberry ice cream so who wants what?"

"Chocolate!"

"Strawberry"

"Same here"

"I'll have chocolate too please!"

"Strawberry would be nice please"

"I'd like both please"

"I think I'll have strawberry"

"Both sounds pretty good to me too!"

"Alrighty then I'll be right~!" she said as she skipped off to the kitchen.

"2 chocolate, 4 strawberry, 2 both. 2 chocolate 4 strawberry, 2 both…" she repeated to herself. She skipped into the kitchen and grabbed the 2 tubs of ice cream from the freezer.

"Now what to put them in…" she wondered as she looked around the kitchen.

"Aha!" she grabbed 9 of the cute floral design tea cups and saucers from the cupboard, and began filling them with ice cream.

"There we go, all done! But they're missing something…" she'd made sure that each of the ice cream scoops had been perfectly round, but now that she looked at them, they seemed too…plain.

"I got it!" she hopped over to the fridge and grabbed the bag of cherries from the fruit drawer, the whip cream, and then went over to the cupboard and grabbed the box of vanilla wafers. She carefully made perfect little whip cream swirls, topped them off with a cherry, and then placed 2 vanilla wafers behind it.

"Perfect~!" she beamed, proud of the delicious dessert she'd made. She couldn't find a tray big enough to carry them all, so she had to separate them onto 2.

"Guess I'll just have to make 2 trips…"

"Oh wow Sky these look delicious~! You did a great job" came a voice from behind her.

"Ah?"

"Agito thought you might need some help carrying everything back outside" Akito smiled as he grabbed the second tray.

"Thanks Agito, thank you Akito" she smiled as she picked up her tray.

"It's no problem" he smiled back.

* * *

Agito was sour about him saying that he'd been the one to think she'd needed help, because he couldn't care less as long as 'he got his damn ice cream'. They carried the trays of ice cream back out to their friends, who were more than pleased with what she'd thrown together. They ate, they laughed, they had fun, _she_ had fun. He really admired how she could still be so happy after everything they'd been through in the past couple days, he couldn't even begin to imagine going back to living without Agito there with him…

"So Sky we should probably help you clean the kitchen shouldn't we?" Emily said, though there was a strange glint in her eyes…

"Yea you girls should go help her clean up inside while we tidy up out here" Ikki joined in as he looked over at Akito with an equally strange glint in his eyes.

"Oh no really I can-" before Sky could even finish the other girls had already began to drag her into the house. He looked after them in confusion until he felt a strange aura coming from the other direction.

"_So Akito…_" Ikki said as he and the other boys looked at him with evil, oversized grins.

"Ahhh?"

* * *

The other girls tossed her into a chair, which was quite painful considering her injuries were still sore. The other girls crowed around the messy table and looked at her with evilly curious eyes,

"_So Sky_"

"_You never did get a chance to tell us about who you'd been crushing on at our last little get together_"

"W-w-what? I have no idea what you're talking about" she stuttered, though she could feel her face heating up.

"As if we're gonna believe that" Nakayama smirked.

"You've got a thing for Akito don't you?" Emily grinned evilly.

"N-n-n-n-n-n-no! No i-it's not like that! It's just that we've never met anyone else like him!" oh gosh her face felt so hot…

"So you think he's really special?" Ringo smiled.

"Ah! No no that's not what I meant either! I meant-"

"So do you think he's '_the one_'?" Emily giggled.

"Wha-!"

"Come to think of it, haven't you and Akito already gone out on a date?" Nakayama pointed out with a smirk.

* * *

"_Sky's pretty cute don'tcha think Akito?_" Kazu grinned.

"Ah well I-"

"_And Phoenix is pretty damn hot too wouldn'tcha say?_" Ikki smiled evilly as he moved closer.

"_And from what we've heard, you and Sky have already gone out on a date_" Onigiri drooled.

"I bet that dirty little shark's already made a move…" Ikki said as he grabbed his eye patch and switched him over,

"Haven't you Agito?!"

"Crow…" Agito growled.

* * *

She was so overwhelmed and flustered that she could barely see straight, the world seemed to be swaying back and forth…or maybe that was just her… They continued to bombard her with question after question so quickly that she didn't even have the chance to get a word in.

*Thud*

They all stopped and turned when they heard the sound of the fridge close from behind her.

"What?" Ice said as he began to chug back the carton of milk.

"No Ice wait that's the last of the milk!" Sky said as she got up to try and stop him, but he'd already drank it all by the time she'd gotten there.

"Oops" he shrugged,

"These your friends?" he said nodding towards the other girls.

She sighed heavily over the loss of the milk before replying,

"Yea, this is Ringo, Emily, and Yayoi" she said as she pointed them out accordingly. Then to her friends,

"Guys this is Ice. He's a friend who just started living with me and onni-sama" she smiled.

"Aww Sky, are you too shy to say it?" he smiled as he wrapped an arm around her waist.

* * *

"Come on guys they're probably wondering what's taking us so long~!" Akito said as he carried in his empty cup, the other heavily beaten and bruised boys following behind with the rest. They'd just began walking into the kitchen when

"I'm their boyfriend"

Their boyfriend.

Their boyfriend.

Their boyfriend.

Their_ boyfriend._

...

...

...

Silence.

_..._

_Their_ boyfriend

...

...

...

...

Still Silence…

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

…their _boyfriend_?

...

...

...

...

...

Really Awkward Silence…

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

Ice suddenly went flying out the other kitchen door, Sky's fist moving so fast that you could barely see it. However, upon slowing down the scene, we can see that she had actually punched him in the balls before punching him out of the room.

Phoenix would've been proud.

"Ah! Um Sky but he-" Ringo began but,

"He's such a jerk sometimes" she pouted as she plopped back down into her chair, rubbing the side where his hand had been. She was sore, and he knew it, and he'd squeezed her side like that anyways.

'_He's such a meany…_' she whimpered internally.

"He looked pretty roughed up" Emily pointed out.

"Yea, is he okay?" Nakayama asked slightly concerned.

"Oh yea he's fine" she said, giving them a dismissive wave,

"But he should really be in his room resting…" she thought out loud as she got up and walked over towards where Ice had gone. She'd just barely gotten to the edge of the counter when she thought she heard someone talking…They sounded so far away all of a sudden… She'd only gone a few steps before everything started to sway and blur.

'_Huh?_' was she falling? What was going on?

* * *

Had she looked this tired and drained the entire time? She'd seemed alright earlier…

"But he should really be in his room resting…" she trailed off as she pulled herself out of her chair.

'_She doesn't look very good Agito…_' he said as he watched her stagger towards the other door leading out of the kitchen.

"Maybe you should sit down" Kazu suggested as he too noticed her unbalance. His mind flashed back to the other night, remembering what Phoenix had last said to them,

'_Please take care of her while I'm gone_'

He put his tea cup down on the counter and walked over to the staggering girl, getting there just in time to stop her from falling.

"Maybe you should take your own advice" he smiled worriedly as he wrapped her arm over his shoulder, putting his own around her waist and pulling her back up.

"Thank you Akito" she smiled back at him. "I'll help you back up to your room okay?" he said as he led her out of the room.

"Sooo…is Akito still gay? Or is everyone else just as confused as I am?" Onigiri asked.

"Jeez for once I think the pigs actually right…" Ikki said.

* * *

"I'm sorry for being so much trouble" Sky apologized.

"It's no problem~" he smiled.

'_Pft! She's almost as much trouble as the other one!_" Agito grumbled from the back of their mind.

"Even Agito doesn't think you're any trouble" Akito laughed.

"Really?!" she piped up at hearing that.

"I knew he couldn't hate us completely" she smiled as they reached her room. She took her arm back as she turned to hug him,

"We really do owe you a lot Agito-sama" she said softly as she pulled away,

"And you too Akito-chan" she smiled up at him.

"Oh no wait!" she said pushing him back a little,

"I almost forgot what I needed to tell you!"

Whatever it was must've been important judging by the now serious look she had on her face.

"She loves sweet things, noodles, and prefers dogs over cats" she listed them each on her finger as she went,

"She likes being outside, and she likes your blue hair because it reminds her of the ocean, and bugging Agito is one of her favorite things to do. Keeping up with me?"

"Um…what are you talking about?" perhaps what she had to tell him wasn't so serious after all…

"Phoenix! None of the questions you wanna ask her are gonna make any sense if you don't know _her_" she gave a quick look before she continued,

"Now, every country has its own parts war"

"But what-!" she put a finger over his mouth before he could continue.

"Our team name was '_Basilisk_'" she took her finger off his lips as she stepped back.

"And that should be enough for now~" she smiled.

"Oh and um…" she began before he could say anything. She moved quickly towards his face, placing a feather like kiss on his cheek,

"Thank you Akito" she said softly, disappearing into her room before he had a chance to react. He could feel his face was beet red as he stood there as stiff as a statue.

* * *

'_What are you waiting for Akito? Another one?_' Agito teased, crossing his arms and shaking his head in disapproval. His brother flinched at the sound of his voice, and for once, Akito didn't have some kind of witty come back, instead he just moved their eye patch over and gave him control of the body. Agito crossed his arms behind his head as he began to head down the hallway, not sure whether to feel triumphant of the information he'd gained, or disgusted by the event that followed…

"Is she okay?" Nakayama asked him as he reached the group, the other girls wondering the same.

"She's fine" he said as he walked over to his shoes.

"Agito" Ikki said as he crouched down beside him, putting a hand beside his mouth so no one else could hear,

"What the hell were you doing up there so long huh? I bet you got some action while you were up there didn't you, you sneaky little bastard"

He found a punch to the face to be a good response to the Crow's question.

"Fuck, let's go already" he said as he opened the door, folding his arms behind his head as he walked out. He didn't pay much attention as the others followed suit, he was too immersed in his own thoughts…

* * *

(Ice)

LATER THAT NIGHT

He slowly opened her door, taking care not to make a sound as he peered inside. She was in bed, probably fast asleep. He quietly shut the door, his AT carrying him soundlessly down the hallway. Battered and bruised as he was, he needed to run, to tear through the night sky and soar through the air to nowhere.

He just needed freedom.

* * *

As he shut the door, she opened her eyes and let out a long breath; even though he shouldn't be going out in the condition he was in…she knew he needed to get out.

* * *

(Sky)

The moon light shone brightly overhead in the clear night sky, casting dark shadows about the city streets below. The cool night air whipping through his hair felt so nice and refreshing, the quiet empty streets so relaxing, and the ever expanding horizon so inviting that he could feel himself being drawn into it.

* * *

(Agito)

The computer screen was the only source of light in his room, illuminating the few things he kept in it. He punched '_Basilisk_' into the search bar and instantly got a million and one hits. As he read through them however, they all seemed to mention the same things; the team would always be the challenger and wage a huge amount of money, with the other team betting their turf. They _always_ won. Challenge, win. Challenge, win. The team never lost, and was surprisingly popular because of it.

He didn't have to read far down until an article mentioned the name '_Sleeping Dragon'_.

* * *

(Ice)

Why had she come here? She could've gone anywhere but instead she decided to come to the most obvious place she could possibly go! She'd taken more than enough money from Natsumi to take care of herself, so staying with that man wasn't the reason for her to come here. Especially considering he was from back then too! But maybe if she was staying with someone from back then…

* * *

(Agito)

'_That sounds like-_' Akito began,

'_Sleeping Forest_' Agito finished.

This time the search results were ramped, he didn't even need to open half of them to know they were all about the same thing

_**BASILISK'S TEAM LEADER ISN'T HUMAN!**_

_**SLEEPING DRAGON: HUMAN? OR THE DEVIL HIMSELF?**_

_**DEMON LEADER OF BASILISK CAUGHT ON TAPE!**_

He clicked the third which led to an amateur video of some idiot yelling at someone in a hooded black jacket and AT's.

"_You fucking monster! Go back to the pits of fucking hell you demon!_" the guy yelled. The hooded figure turned, slowly moving towards him, but it was too dark out to see the persons face. "_This is streaming back to my computer at home where I've got my friends watching!_" he babbled as he began walking backwards. "_So if you kill me they'll- holy shit you're a g-AAAH!_" the video cut short when the person suddenly sped forward.

"What a waste of fucking time" he growled as went to close the video, but his hand suddenly moved back over. '_Akito?_' he dragged the dial back to just a few seconds before the end of the video, let it play, and then paused it just before the end. As the person had sped towards them, they'd gotten close enough to the camera just long enough to get a brief pixely image of their face.

* * *

(Ice)

Maybe she was trying to find…_him_.

* * *

(Agito)

'_Their eyes_' Akito said in a small voice as they looked at the image. Although it image was blurry, there was no mistaking the blood red eyes with a pentagram in them.

'_Is that Phoenix?_'

* * *

I REALLY HOPE THAT WASN'T TOO CONFUSING TO READ Dx  
If adding the names still didn't help, please message me and let me know!  
Along with any other questions or things you found problematic.

**EDIT:** Wow I'm a fucking dumbass guys. Things still need to happen before they go to train in the mountains.  
A LOT OF THINGS. A LOT OF THINGS PARADOX BLUE YOU STUPID IDIOT.  
So mostly conflict and action will really apply to the next chapter :'(  
Though I shall try my hardest to incorporate some romancey stuff in there ;_;!  
I apologize ;_;  
Please feel free to stab me in the face ;_;

Here's what's goin' down.

_**NEXT CHAPTER!**  
_GENESIS! (I completely skipped over a fairly important scene concerning them... but it's okay that it's kind of out of order...I hope...)  
Decisions, decisions, decisions!  
Will Ikki?  
Will Phoenix?  
Or has she already?  
Questions, questions, questions!  
Was that really her?  
What really happened?  
Ice is a twat.

_**THE FOLLOWING CHAPTER!**  
_3 Kings.  
A Mother.  
A Story.  
A Breakthrough.  
An ass.

_**AND THEN FINALLY**_  
Kogarasumaru is off to train in a small village in the mountains!  
And we all know who comes in then...LIND  
(good god you have no idea how long I've been absolutely dying to write this part)  
Where are plot finally starts to take off! (fucking finally jeez paradoxblue you lazy bastard...)  
With Phoenix finally on board, the gang finally gets to know the fiery haired girl and her american friend Ice  
But questions questions questions keep making things more confusing

Unless Ice has a big fat mouth

**Thank you guys SO much for reading!**


	12. Chapter 10

_**(IMPORTANTO NOTE! - "..." is just for time passing because I can't put a "-".)**_

**CHAPTER TEN**

She was still fast asleep; laying on her side with her fiery red hair strewn about her. All she had on was a violet tank top that just barely contained her chest, and with no bra he noted. She looked so peaceful in her sleep that it was almost hard to imagine what a monster she could be.

He gently sat down on her bed, closing his eyes and sighing, happily enjoying the peacefulness of the moment. He studied her sleeping features, gently running two fingers down the side of her face and then brushing back the locks of hair that had fallen there. He bent down and brushed back the hair covering her ear.

"It's time to wake up Ryuu" he whispered softly.

She stirred a little, but didn't open her eyes. He smiled and lifted his legs onto the bed, laying down beside her and gently pulling her into him. He lightly placed his hand underneath her chin and brought her face up to his.

"Wake up Sleeping Dragon, people are starting to miss you" he said softly nuzzling her nose with his own.

She stirred more in her sleep, this time half opening her sleepy eyes to look into his.

"Ice?" she blushed; her voice always sounded so soft and gentle when she was like this.

"Ryuu…" he moved his hand to the back of her head and pulled her face closer.

A light blush spread across her cheeks as their lips touched lightly once, then twice, three times. He held her tighter and pushed his lips harder against hers. She moaned softly as she pressed their bodies closer together, lightly placing her hand on his face, and lifting her leg over his. He slowly brought his hand from behind her head and over to her face, then down her neck, over her breasts, down her sides then around to her butt, where he stopped briefly to squeeze her ass; she let out a small sigh as he did. He moved his hand underneath her thigh, and then up to the back of her knee where he lifted her leg higher up to his hips. He rolled so that he was on top of her with both his legs between hers. Breaking apart their kiss, he moved down to her neck where he began to gently kiss and suck her soft skin as she sighed softly with pleasure.

"Ice…" she sighed softly as he continued down her neck and to her collar bones.

"Ice…" she sighed again, winding her fingers through his hair as he moved down further still, now kissing just above her chest.

"_Ice_!" she moaned loudly as he –

Fell out of bed.

"Damn!" he growled as he sat up and rubbed his head.

"What a waste of a perfectly good dream…" he grumbled as he got up.

He walked to the end of his bed and dug through his suit case full of clothes. He quickly found a pair of grey sweats and threw them on before leaving his room to head down towards the girls room. Who the hell needs a shirt this early in the morning?

His injuries were a lot better, he was more sore than anything now, and although it was probably a bit early, he hadn't been able to help himself last night, and he'd snuck out for a quick night ride through the city. It felt great to finally get back out and feel the wind whip against his face and through his hair.

He paused outside their door when he realized something…that this…this could end up just like his dream. If Sky or Phoenix had been up already, they would've gotten him out of bed by now… His palms felt sweaty as he stared at the door handle.

'_Get it together man! If I walk in there and she's still asleep, I'll wake her up, lay down in bed with her, kiss her, and then…_' he put his hand on the door handle.

'_and then I'll…_' he slowly turned the handle.

'_and then I'll suck her-!_' he opened the door to find his would be half naked lover-

Missing in action.

"_Damn it!_" he cursed loudly into the empty room.

Their bed was made neatly with a single teddy bear resting on the pillow. He looked at the clock on their nightstand; 2:56 p". They would never let him sleep in this late… And then he realized-

'_Her backpacks gone!_' he shouted internally.

That little idiot had gone to school, when she full well knew that Phoenix would be back any day now!

He bolted back to his room, threw on some clothes, grabbed his AT's, and was out the window.

* * *

The school bell rang, signalling the end of yet another intensely boring day, which had been made worse by the blonde's persistent tactics to talk to him. And of course she didn't want to discuss any of the things she'd promised to explain, 'promising', yet again, that everything would be explained 'later'. So he'd refused to acknowledge _her_ for the rest of the day, or better yet the rest of his life. The more days that passed, the less he liked having her around, especially with how she seemed to always be tailing Akito. He was supposed to protect his lighter half, keep him safe from harm - but how could he do that when harm was potentially masquerading as a bubbly blonde and a red headed bitch?

He pushed thoughts of her aside, and took a peek out at what Akito was doing. He could hear laughter, but when he saw that it was coming from none other than that overly cheery blonde, he opted to just take another nap. He could only hope that she didn't plan on hanging around when they got back home…

* * *

She always enjoyed the walk home with her friends, it was nice to spend just that little bit longer with them – especially now. It had been a week yesterday since Phoenix had gone to sleep, and she'd wanted to talk to Agito about a couple things regarding what would happen when she did wake up. But he didn't seem to be in the mood today… After her first few attempts to talk with him, he'd brushed her off and ignored her. She probably could've talked to Akito about it, seeing as he could just tell Agito, but since Agito was the actual rider out of the two, she wanted to explain to him directly how things were going to change…

'_But it's not just that…_' she thought sadly as she looked down at the pavement.

'_I don't want to be alone…_'

Thoughts of Phoenix's warm presence and constant company fluttered through her mind, disappearing as quickly as they'd appeared.

She missed her fiery angel.

Before she knew it, they had already reached Ringo's house, but she wasn't ready to leave them yet.

"So Ikki, um, is there practice tonight?" she already knew there was, but she just wanted to stall a bit longer.

"Yea tonight at 7 remember?" Ikki said, though he kept walking up towards the house, Ringo and Akito paused with her on the side walk.

"If you don't need to go home and get anything, you could just hang out here until practice" Ringo suggested,

"Rika might even let you sleep over afterwards if you want".

Her heart practically did a back flip. But just then, a cold chill ran down her spine and a hand clamped down on the top of her head.

"_What's this I've found_?"

* * *

A hand came down on Sky's head, causing her to start whimpering and shaking, seemingly on the edge of bawling.

"Waaah?" Sky let out a small cry as she turned her terrified face to look at her capture.

"_You weren't gonna have a sleep over __**here**__ were you? I really hope not because…_" Ice said as he continued to glare down at her.

Sky only continued to whimper through the suspense until,

"Because the person with the bigger house should hold the sleep over" his face suddenly became normal again, grinning in and himself had been standing a bit off to the side, thrown off and slightly confused about what it was they'd just witnessed.

Sky continued to stare at Ice, but now with a surprised face.

"Ahhh…?" she didn't seem able to produce words quite yet.

"You should know better Sky really" Ice took his hand off her head and walked past her to stand in front of Ringo and himself.

"You guys should all come sleep over at our house tonight after your practice. I'm sure Sky's brother wouldn't mind" he finished with a smile.

"Well, uh, if Sky wants us to sleep over?" Ringo said hesitantly, giving Sky a questioning look. There was a short pause before Sky whirled back around to face them with a smile.

"I'd love it if you guys all slept over!" He himself paused for a brief moment, unsure of whether her answer was truthful or not. Regardless, she and Ringo started discussing things as they headed inside. Akito took a step to follow them but was stopped when a hand clamped down on his shoulder and held him firmly in place.

"Not so fast little shark" said Ice, turning him around to face him,

"I've got a few questions for ya"

* * *

She stood beside the window, watching to make sure that Ice didn't try anything with Akito; she knew that he must've had some kind of ulterior motif for wanting everyone to sleep over at their house. She purposefully hadn't had any sleepovers since Ice had started living with them – and with good reason. She looked over at Ringo who had her back to her in the kitchen; she was getting water bottles and a few snacks ready for practice.

'_I won't let him hurt our friends. I won't let __**anyone**__ hurt our friends…_' she made this silent promise before looking back out the window. They seemed to be just talking, but that could be just as dangerous…

* * *

He enjoyed practice since it let him blow off some steam before he had to head over to _her_ house. He wasn't looking forward to staying up late with _her_, or having to be around _her_, or even having to think about _her_. The only reason he'd stopped fuming over _her_, was because he noticed how much it was upsetting Akito. Akito could probably tell he was still irritated, but now he was more focused on beating everyone else than internally fuming over the sleep over.

He glanced over at the bleachers where she was sitting with Yayoi, chatting up a storm about god knows what. He thought back to what that guy had been asking him earlier; was she okay at school today? Did she eat? Did she seem tired? How the fuck was he supposed to know?! He wasn't her god damn babysitter. But he figured it had to do with that red headed bitch being 'asleep', which only brought more questions to the table.

'_Fuck_…' he cursed internally. He turned back around sharply, refocusing on AT's.

Practice eventually came to an end which, to his despair, meant they were all heading over to Sky's house for that fucking sleepover. The ride there seemed longer after having practiced for the last 3 hours, but they all found it to be worth it when they arrived.

* * *

Once they were all inside, Sky led them to the kitchen for something to eat, and found that onii-sama had spoiled them rotten with plenty of pizza, pop, and snacks for the night. They ended up grabbing the pizza, pop, snacks, and some plates, and carrying it all up to the big TV room.

"WOOOAH!" the guys, minus Akito, yelled simultaneously, their jaws dropping disturbingly low.

"I didn't even know they made TV's that big!" Onigiri yelled as he ogled over the beast of a television with Buccha.

"And look at all these gaming systems…" Kazu and Ikki drooled.

The girls ooed and awed along with Akito, allowing them to maintain their dignity; unlike the other 4 who were now hoping around the room trying to get a better look at everything. While they continued to prance about like idiots in paradise, they sat down and helped themselves to some pizza before Buccha and Onigiri settled down and ate it all

"You guys can play if you want" she smiled, gesturing to a large cabinet beside the TV.

"I'm pretty sure the games and stuff are in there." Ikki and the other boys began to rummage through the cabinet.

She giggled as she watched, '_Our friends haven't even been here 10 minutes and they're already having fun Phoenix~!_'

She took a bite of her pizza, and as she did, remembered the person who'd gotten all this stuff for them.

'_I wonder where onii-sama is…_'

"I'm just gonna go see where our brother is" she said as she turned to head for the door.

"He's out for the night," came a voice from the doorway, "said he'd be back in the morning" Ice sauntered over to the group, sat down cross legged in front of the coffee table, and grabbed himself a slice of pizza.

Sky just nodded, not as concerned about where onii was, as much as she was about where Ice was at the moment.

"I'll behave myself" he said when he noticed her giving him an odd look.

"As best I can anyways. I doubt any guy could behave in such beautiful company" he said, sending a wink and playful smirk towards the three girls sitting on the couch. They each smiled with a hint of pink in their cheeks.

'_It's going to be a long night…_' she internally groaned.

Sky plunked herself down beside Akito just as the guys finally decided what game to play.

"Mind if I join in?" Ice asked Ikki.

"Sure, just try not to cry when you get your ass kicked along with these losers" Ikki boasted proudly.

"Show me what you've got bro" Ice said coolly. As the guys commenced with a heated game full of all sorts of violence, the girls, Akito, and herself dove into their own conversation.

She was enjoying laughing with her friends and gossiping, especially since she got to sit right next to Akito, but her happiness was dampened when Ice suddenly came out with,

"Hey babe could you pass me another slice?"

She didn't hesitate as she grabbed one of the pillows from beside her on the couch, and hurled it at his head.

"Don't call me babe you creep" she said disapprovingly

Lifting his face from the floor, he was met with the traumatizing site of himself lose the game against Ikki. He whirled around and hurled the pillow back at her, hitting her square in the face.

"You little shit you made me lose the game!"

"Maybe if you didn't call me weird names like 'babe' then I wouldn't've had to hit you with the pillow" she snapped back at him, throwing the pillow at him again. This time however, she missed, hitting Ikki beside him on the floor instead.

"Oh! Sorry Ikki!" she apologized, but was only met with another pillow in the face.

"Serves you right" Ice high fived Ikki.

The situation began to escalate when Ringo threw a pillow at Ikki because he'd just thrown one at her.

And it all went downhill from there.

The video game was abandoned as everyone took a side - and a pillow! The couches had been pushed around to form protective barriers against the opposing team. Sky bit her lip to hold back her laughter as she crouched behind the couch with Emily, Ringo, and Nakayama. Pillows were whipped back and forth across no mans' land, until Ikki's team launched a full on assault, sacrificing Buccha and using him as a shield. In the end they all ended up turning on one another, hitting anyone they could as they all laughed and yelled. It was all fun and games until Ikki threatened to let out Agito and have him kick all their asses. However this resulted in only Ikki getting his ass kicked, when Agito quickly turned on him and gave him a good one to the face. They went on like this for a while before a truce was called, on account that everyone was whooped by that point.

The couches were pushed back in front of the TV, and a few of the pillows retrieved but the rest of the mess was left lying on the floor – she'd get to that tomorrow…

They all breathed heavily as they sprawled out on the floor or the couch.

"I've never had so much fun" Sky sighed with a wide smile on her face that would probably last the rest of the night.

"What do you guys wanna do next?" she was tired like everyone else, but she didn't want the night to end yet!

"We could watch a movie?" Ringo suggested, nodding towards another cupboard beside the TV, this one full of movies.

"Good idea" Kazu said, hauling himself up off the floor to grab a movie.

"What kind of movie should we watch?" Kazu asked as he skimmed through the movies.

"How about a thriller?"

"Action!"

"Screw that! Let's watch a comedy!"

"Horror!" Kazu continued to look through the movies.

"How about an old horror movie?" Kazu said as he showed them the cheesy movie cover.

Who could say no to that?

...

Buccha finished off the last of the pizza, while the rest munched on whatever snacks hadn't been strewn across the floor. Ice had actually chosen to sit over with Ikki rather than with her, seemingly putting in an effort to make friends – and enjoying it. She smiled lightly to herself, happy to see him actually getting along with her friends.

'_I wish you could see this Phoenix_…' A naughty idea popped into her head at the thought of her other half. Agito had remained in control of their body after the pillow fight, and now sat beside her on the end of the couch with one hand in his pocket, and the other arm resting on the end of the couch, his feet up on the table. She casually changed her position on the couch, scooting closer and leaning against him.

"Fuck off" he said surprisingly quiet, probably so as not to rouse anyone's attention. He jerked his shoulder away from her before switching over the eye patch – his patience with her seemed shorter than usual today…

* * *

Akito only had time to blink once before Sky was on them again, this time sitting right against him with her head on his shoulder, and her hand clinging to his shirt sleeve.

'_Fuck she's persistent_…' Agito growled as he opted to lie down and sleep rather than watch her cuddle up to them.

Before Akito had time to decide whether to reciprocate or gently decline her affection, she suddenly said in a small, quiet voice,

"You smell nice" As soon as she said it she moved away, covering her mouth with her hand as a light pink covered her cheeks.

"S-sorry, that wasn't supposed to be out loud…"

Unsure what to say, he nodded, and they finished watching the movie without talking to one another.

* * *

By the time the movie ended it was already 2:00am, and everyone was ready for bed. She showed everyone to their rooms, with two people per room. Ikki outright refused to sleep in the same room as Akito, so the rooms were split with Ikki and Kazu in one room, the two pigs in another, and Emily and Yayoi, which left Akito the odd one out. Sky wouldn't have minded sharing a room with him, but Ice's cold glares made it quite clear that she would be doing no such thing. So, she opted to sleep in their brother's room, and let Akito take her room.

* * *

Everyone said their goodnights before heading off to their rooms. He felt a little down about not getting to sleep with Ikki…but Agito insisted that having a big bed all to themselves was far better.

He reached their room and was about to enter when he was distracted by a suddenly angry voice coming from back down the hall. He couldn't quite make out what they were saying in angry loud whispers, but he got the gist of it just by watching. Ice had grabbed Sky by the wrist and pulled her in close to his body. His face looked concerned, but hers seemed agitated. They exchanged a few more words before Ice lifted his other hand up to her face, and began to close the short distance between their faces. With a few angry mumbles - or at least what sounded like mumbling from down the hall - and a tug, Sky yanked herself free, slapped away his hand, tore open her bedroom door and disappeared inside. Ice was left standing there with a pained look still on his face. Both Agito and himself had been completely silent as they'd watched the little ordeal. Ice turned and began walking back up the hallway to his own room, and upon seeing them still staring, grunted angrily before tearing open his door and disappearing inside.

'_Poor Ice…I feel kind of bad for him, he obviously cares a lot about her…_' Akito thought as he opened his door and headed inside.

'_Of course. He cares so much about her that he flew all the way here from America to try and kill her._' Agito said sarcastically as he lied down in his corner of their mind.

Akito couldn't really argue with that, but at the same time he still felt as though maybe Ice and Sky's relationship was just complicated.

'_That's one way of putting it._' Agito suddenly said, apparently still listening to his thoughts. Akito sighed as he hopped into bed,

'_I still hope they can at least work things out_.' Agito didn't reply this time, but he could feel still his brother's skepticism.

Their body was tired after practice, the ride here, and then that pillow fight, so it didn't take long for sleep to come and whisk him off.

* * *

Dark blurry swirls swam across the ceiling, the slowly falling away beneath her and the blankets becoming light as air. The headache was splitting, but still she didn't regret telling Ice to leave her alone. Now everything began to melt, her head falling to the side as numbness overtook her body. She could see the faint light of the moon creeping in through the thin curtains and beginning to melt into the darkness in her room. Her vision left along with any feeling still remaining in her body. Now all she was left with was the sound of her breathing growing shallower and shallower.

And then nothing.

* * *

Cold air tickled Akito's chest, contrasting with the warm breeze he could feel hitting his face. He moved to try and regain some comfort, but found himself unable to move. As he slowly came out of his sleep, he realized his immobility was being cause by a weight pushing down on his hips. He cracked open his eyes initially in confusion, and then in shock. The world around him was fiery red, given an oddly silver glow by the moonlight leaking through the curtains. He shot up into a sitting position, trying to pull himself away from his captor, but only able to move back a short distance before his back hit the wall.

"P-Phoeni-?!" his mouth was quickly covered before he could finish. Her icy blue grey eyes met his, undoubtedly her own as he could feel her gaze pierce through his skin to look deep within his mind, she couldn't do that with contacts on.

"Shhh…" she said softly as she moved closer to him. She had her legs on either side of his, and now she'd moved to sit right up against him, laying her head on his shoulder as her hands clutched his pajama shirt.

"I-I'm so glad you're back Phoenix. Are you okay?" he put his hands on her shoulders and tried to push her back a bit.

"You smell so nice…" she said, and before he could move her away, she began trailing her lips ups his neck. A chill ran down his spine at the sudden light touch.

"And so soft…" she spoke again, now with her face just inches away from his – now her eyes were a dark color he couldn't quite make out in the dark.

"P-Phoenix?" he was excited to see her, he was so happy she was alright but…was she really?

"Maybe you just need a glass of water? I'll go get one for you" he said as he finally managed to move out from under her, and quickly get off the bed before she could climb back on.

"I'll be right back. Stay right there okay?" she looked at him with a lost expression on her face as he grabbed his eye patch off the nightstand and headed for the door. Thankfully Agito hadn't woken up during the whole thing; otherwise the situation would've been even worse…

He made it half way across the room before he was tackled to the ground from behind – shifting his eye patch.

* * *

Agito awoke slightly dazed, and slightly in pain as he found himself tangled on the floor.

"_Don't leave me_" a small shaky voice said in front of him on the floor,

"_I don't want to hurt people anymore_"

Watery ice blue eyes held his for only a few brief moments before they shut. He stared confused at the limp mess of red hair lying beside him on the floor. Akito was rambling away in their mind, panicking and trying to explain things to him – but he was distracted.

That red haired, rude, punk ass bitch was alive.

And he felt _relief_.

* * *

PRAISE THE LAWD A NEW CHAPTER.

Aaand it's super long for your pleasure...hope dis wasn't too borin' ;_;

Sooo, if there is any chance that you would want to see drawings of Phoenix...  
I have a link to my dA account posted on my profile...she shouldn't be hard to find  
'cause she's my fav. to draw xD


End file.
